


Growing Wary, Growing Wise

by JayBarou



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Loki-centric, M/M, but it doesn't happen here yet, canon divergence - pre-avengers, you know it will be froz3npizza and I know it too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 11:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3975742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBarou/pseuds/JayBarou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki chooses loyalty over tricks in the worst moment. Odin carries on with his plans, unstoppable, until two humans show a little support to Loki and upset the balance where Odin has been standing for the last millennia. </p><p>Or, Loki learns the meaning of dictatorship and it sounds familiar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Truth over Tricks

Loki dusted off his regal clothes, annoyed with himself. He should have seen that his father was planning something. After all, Odin had been known as a trickster long before he became the king of Asgard. Loki had read about his travels and his clever lies to foolish inhabitants across the realms. It was one of the reasons why Loki had decided to follow his path, learning magic and the arts of the shades with the help of Frigga.

In Loki’s opinion, a king had to be wise and level-headed, like Odin. A king had to be a strategist instead of a warrior like Thor. However annoyingly, Asgard didn't agree with him; Loki could see that Asgard loved Thor, so Thor would be the one to rise to the throne while Loki guided him from the shadows.

It was meant to be that way. Odin had to pretend that he was a warrior to be where he was; he had had to hide his magic; he had had to leave his old life behind to become king. Loki wasn’t sure he could stop being himself to become king, so Thor could have all the love of their people as long as Loki could have the respect of Thor, Frigga, of course, Odin, and maybe the Council.

Loki had known it for centuries; Odin loved them, and the throne was for them both, even if only one could physically sit on it. Thor only needed to learn to listen to Loki, because he only listened when Loki tricked him into doing the right thing. Odin had never pressed Thor to listen to Loki’s counsel, but that was fine, it was Odin’s way of passing that responsibility to Loki. After all, if Loki couldn’t make Thor respect his brother without help of their father, how could he expect Thor to listen to his words? What was the point? Right? It was part of Odin’s cunning plan for them.

Lately Loki had been noticing that the plan wasn’t working, though. It looked like Odin wanted to give Thor the throne, just to him, without supervision. It didn’t make sense, unless Odin was planning on leaving Loki outside of the picture. That couldn’t be true. Odin was wise; he had to know that Thor wasn’t prepared.

Loki’s trust and loyalty had wavered for a single second; maybe father had fallen for his brother’s charm too. It was a common problem with tricksters, after all; loosing the sight of truth and believing one’s own lies. Loki debated with himself for some time. He could play a trick and humiliate Thor in public to let everyone see how unprepared he was, not bothering anyone with time-consuming iscussions, or he could do the right thing and ask Odin, no trickery involved. In a last minute whim, Loki had decided to visit their father to discourage him of the notion of Thor as king, knee on the ground, arm against his chest and head lowered.

Odin had explained everything. He was going to put Thor on the throne alone while he rested, to get the future king used to the responsibility, he said. Frigga would be there to make sure that nothing bad happened. Thor would learn what a burden the crown was, he would learn to seek counsel from her.

Loki frowned at that. Shouldn’t Thor learn to seek counsel from Loki? But that wasn’t right either. According to father, Thor had to seek other’s help, the right kind of help. Loki didn’t understand why his help wasn’t right, or why Thor would need anyone else’s help. Loki was going to be right there, supporting Thor through his years of kingship, so why would he need to trust others?

Of course Odin had an answer; Loki might need to leave Asgard on a mission and Thor couldn’t depend only on Loki. It was true. Loki couldn’t be there, at Thor’s feet forever. But surely Thor needed Loki on his first time as the ruler of Asgard? No, Loki. He would need a lot of people and later he would need to choose wisely who to trust.

While Loki’s brother learnt his lesson, father would need his help in an important inter-realm mission. It was one of the serious missions, so Loki swore an oath of obedience even before Odin asked. It was easy, though. Loki only had to visit all the realms to strengthen Asgard’s relationship with them and keep a record of all the differences he found in relation to the last time this was done, a thousand years before. Loki agreed eagerly, glad of having a new chance to please and impress the Allfather.

Loki had realized his mistake later, when he left father’s company and thought how strange and well timed that mission was.

Odin wanted Loki busy and out of Asgard, it was obvious once he thought twice about it. But that wasn’t bad, right? Father must have seen that Loki was worried and he had given Loki something to stay busy while everything developed. Of course Odin cared. He tended to favor Thor because he was expected to, not because Loki didn’t matter, right? And if he ever punished Loki harder than he punished his brother, it was because of his duties as king and because Thor needed to have a perfect public image if he was expected to become king.

Then why did Loki feel so tricked so frequently?

The thought of foiling the mock coronation featured briefly in his dreams, but everything was going according to Odin's plan, so he quickly forgot about it and spent the last day on Asgard preparing everything, reading on the other realms and deciding his next step. He couldn’t say goodbye, as per Odin’s orders, since this should be a secret diplomatic mission.

Hence the reason why Loki was dusting off his clothes in the most populated city of Midgard and still with the nagging feeling of having been royally tricked.

He looked around. He was surrounded by more people than he could have imagined, but Midgard was the most populated of the realms, so he wasn’t exactly surprised. What did surprise him was the apparent disregard for his person. Midgard didn’t consider them gods anymore, last reports made that clear, but he would have thought that the Bifrost would call more attention.

Apparently not.

The humans around him were already walking on the knotted pattern on the floor and lightly pushing him out of their way. Some covered their faces, some travelled in simplistic wheels, while others had earth-bound ships that travelled through the middle of the street. There weren’t animals outsie, apart from the humans, so he noted that for his report.

He tried to stop someone to ask about the Song Dynasty, the last known source of power in that region in the last report. It was only a thousand years ago, so things couldn’t have changed much.


	2. Hynek Encounter of the Fifth Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heroes meet alien, nobody is impressed until they are.

Tony was in the French district of Shanghai enjoying his Liangpi in the stand their interpreter for the day had recommended. Pepper and he were having street food, because Tony had closed enough dealings with Chinese industries to know the whole shebang of becoming familiar with each other through food, excessive talking (even for Tony), food, and excessive alcohol (only in Pepper’s opinion). Let it be known that both Pepper and Tony were pros at closing deals and playing the part, but neither of them enjoyed all the niceties required for business outside of the States.

Remembering all the little things (God help you if you toasted with your glass above your host’s) was tiring, so they had to hire experts and interpreters frequently. And that wasn’t even the worst part. Pepper especially hated going to countries where they wanted to talk with the real boss, aka, a man. She usually broke their expectations, refusing to be dismissed, but it was not always possible; sometimes diplomacy was required, so she let Tony loose until they begged to talk to her.

She had cold milk tea in a hand and sunglasses on, because she was far less used to hangovers than Tony and baijiu hadn’t been kind on her. Of course Tony was teasing her mercilessly, even if she was teasing back because Tony’s ego had nearly blown the negotiation. Their interpreter had been a real life-saver with that one and Pepper was going to make sure that she was around for their next meeting in a couple of months approximately.

The two Americans saw a huge ray of light in the middle of the day and stopped the teasing. They wondered if there was some kind of celebration, which would mean, ugh, paying attention to more traditions. They walked to the light out of curiosity and lack of anything else to do, since their flight wouldn’t leave until late in the evening and Pepper hadn’t let Tony leave with the Iron Man suit.

They didn’t reach the source of the light, since half-way there they overheard someone who sounded quite lost and quite… British? Pepper pointed at the leather-clad, Caucasian-looking guy who was asking around which dynasty ruled currently and where was the emperor, or the king, or the palace or the fortress. Tony thought he had to be some convention-escapee in character; Pepper didn’t care, because he was asking all those _Chinese_ people for directions in _English_.

The few people who answered did it in Mandarin or Cantonese. The poor guy needed help and Pepper couldn’t help but approach him. Tony trailed after her just because.

“Sir, are you lost?”

The stranger turned from the woman who was telling him something that he couldn’t possibly understand.

“Would you mind waiting for a second?” He turned back to the woman and listened until she was done. “Thank you for your time, I shall not entertain you more.” The woman waved goodbye as if she had understood and the stranger’s smile was perfect when he turned to Pepper. “You were saying?”

Tony shoved a chopstick full of Liangpi because otherwise he would have commented something about leather and beautiful, dark and tall. Pepper deserved a civil start of a conversation. she appeared to want to fill her quota of good deeds with the doll in front of them. Tony was going to give her time until he swallowed.

“I was asking if you were lost,” Pepper repeated.

“Not at all. I was asking about the current leaders, and that woman was kind enough to inform me, even though she was on her way to work.”

“Oh, so you understood her? My mistake I thought you didn’t speak Mandarin…”

“I don’t, really, I use Allspeak.”

“Allspeak, is that an app?" She subtly looked for headphones that weren’t there. Tony shoved another chopstick full of Liangpi because suddenly the beautiful stranger might be either nuts or interesting.

“I’d be glad to answer, but I’m on a mission and I can’t lose any time.” The stranger made a move to leave, but then thought better of it. “Although… these people seem too busy to answer my questions. Maybe you have some time to spare?”

“I’m no expert in Chinese culture, but sure!” Pepper answered in an animated tone.

“You are not from this country then?” The stranger seemed more and more bizarre with each word. It was obvious that Pepper and Tony weren’t Chinese by any stretch of the imagination, or wasn’t it? And the guy had pronounced _country_ as if he had just learnt the word.

“Nnno,” Pepper doubted herself. “No. We are American.”

“Oh. I don’t have anywhere called America in my maps.” The stranger made a round gesture with a hand and suddenly there were papers where previously there was nothing.

“What was that?!” Oh, yes, Tony had swallowed, alright.

“Magic,” the stranger said dismissively. Then he looked up. “Why? Is it forbidden here? It wasn’t forbidden last time.”

“Is this some hidden camera or something?” Tony looked around, but he was used to spotting paps and he couldn’t see anyone.

“Not forbidden, but magic doesn’t exist?” Pepper answered, still doubt in her voice and looking at the papers that the stranger was opening.

“Oh, you can’t! Well, it is a pity.” He looked at a physical map of Earth. “So where are you from?”

Pepper pointed generically at the good, old US of A and the stranger made a different hand gesture, which raised something like holograms with names. A new gesture lighted up what had to be frontiers, but neither Tony nor Pepper recognized them.

“Fantastic, the main city was… Cahokia. Is it still so?” The man looked from Tony to Pepper and back.

Tony was silent. He was a technology expert; papers couldn’t create a hologram. Nanotechnology wasn’t that developed yet. Pepper knew it as well as Tony and they shared a look while the stranger waited for an answer. Tony wanted that in his lab, badly. Pepper took her mobile to pull some strings while Tony smirked planning how to charm the stranger.

“No, Cahoots isn’t around anymore, but we are going to the biggest city you can find over there this evening, you might want to see it for yourself.” Tony looked avidly at the map and the stranger’s hands, which were equally interesting for different reasons.

“And what is the name of the city?” the stranger said.

“Hmmm, New York, here.” Tony pointed just to be able to touch the paper, which was just that, paper.

The stranger pointed too, and the name of the hologram changed to New York. Pepper nodded subtly, meaning that they had a seat in the plane and a room in the tower for the strange man. She also snapped a photo to make JARVIS use face-recognition on him.

“Say, Mr. Leather, where did you get this?” Tony waved at the map.

“Hmm, I made it. What kind of leader do you have in this New York?”

“Made it?” Tony mouthed looking at Pepper. “Do you mean our mayor? Or the president?” he said aloud.

“I don’t know. Midgard seems to be much more complicated than it was a thousand years ago.”

“Yeees, things change in a blink like that.” Tony said skeptically. “So what do you say to coming with us?”

“I can’t stay. I need to go to Jotunheim soon and I want to get as much information as possible before leaving.”

“And you are going to do that asking in the street?” Pepper joined the conversation covering the microphone of her mobile.

“I was hoping someone would point me in the right direction.” The man folded the papers and made them disappear; Tony was very close to pouting.

“Like to a library or the internet?” Pepper asked.

“The library would be fine; I don’t know what an Internet is.”

Pepper and Tony looked at him incredulously for the nth time in a few minutes.

“Dear,” Pepper took the stranger by the elbow. “If you want information, you need the Internet. We will tell you everything about it on the way to New York, and I will personally make your map as accurate as it can be in a few minutes.”

“But you want something in exchange, don’t you?” the stranger said as if he was already tired of them. “Know that a species as unevolved as yours can’t trap me as I suspect you are trying to do, so what do you want? Gold? How much? Trinkets? I noticed you liked the map.” Loki produced a globe of light and other small devices that Tony really, really wanted in his lab.

“What about an exchange of knowledge?” the inventor contained himself, remembering that there was a thing called priorities.

Loki seemed intrigued by the notion. He wasn’t worried; humans might have changed more than anyone expected, but, as he had said, they couldn’t hurt him or contain him. Also, Midgard had grown, Loki needed a fast way to catalogue as much as possible and one of those internets could be a good way of saving time.

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

The woman walked, still anchored to his elbow, and Loki let himself be pulled.

“Everything, starting with your name.” The other human walked by his other side with a mischievous smile in place. Loki felt that he couldn’t trust these people, and maybe that was one of the reasons he decided to stay with them. They acted like tricksters themselves, and Loki wouldn’t trust the information that a warrior or a peasant gave him. Too easily fooled, but those two were worth a try.

“Loki Odinson, of Asgard.”

“Where is Asgard?” the woman inquired.

“In the top of Yggdrasil.” Loki projected the tree he had been taught to respect since he was a child.

He noticed the male human bending forward, hands twitching. Both humans looked at the sphere that they could recognize as their realm and then looked at each other in front of Loki.

“Alien?” she asked.

“I guess?” he asked too.

“Your names?” Loki asked, only to continue the round of questions.

“Virginia Potts and this is Tony Stark.” She waited a second as if she expected a reaction, maybe the names were fake, maybe she was testing him. Loki would have to be careful.


	3. Exchanges of all Kinds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out the humans have opinions about Asgard and Odin.

The pair of humans told him about all the countries on what they called “Earth” and their leaders. Loki noted that they didn’t trust him either; there were silences at the mention of some borders and certain countries. Loki guessed that they were adamant in telling him about their conflicts and wars, but he wasn’t worried, Midgard would stay isolated for the next thousand years and nothing would matter anymore.

They made him travel in what they called a _car_ and they asked what exactly was magic. Well, the man, Tony, did. The woman, Virginia, asked about Asgard. He answered mostly with the truth simplified, since there was nothing that those humans could do with the information.

Some people were waiting in front of a big building that seemed luxurious for a human valor of luxurious. The people put bulks fit for traveling in the back part of their _car._ They also gave the woman books and papers, nay, maps. Where those their servants? Clearly the pair of humans hadn’t told him all about them, so he didn’t bother telling them about him being a prince.

Loki enjoyed telling things about magic and the Bifrost, if only because nobody home was interested. The more he talked, the more he realized the humans were actually learning and making connections with their own culture. The male surprised him by making a very basic comparison of the Bifrost with some human theories on black holes.

That information was far more developed than some elf studies and most of the Jotun culture, so why didn’t humans have magic? He couldn’t understand. Anyone with basic knowledge of that human science should be able to manipulate magic.

Then the humans introduced him to their rudimentary way of flying. Honestly, Loki wouldn’t have put a foot in that ancient artifact if he hadn’t known beforehand that he would survive the crash.

The woman handed him the maps then, and the history books. Loki spent the time in the air extracting the maps from the paper and planting them on his own map, with magic, of course. Virginia kept tapping her fingers together for the simplest illusion of light that Loki knew, without success. Tony asked about spells, complicating the questions as Loki answered.

The conversation turned sour when they explained what their internet was.

“You mean… this kind of information is free for everyone?”

“With exceptions, but yes.”

“Without control?”

“Isn’t it the same in Asgard?”

“No. This webbed information is very old technology for us, but it was used by strategists only.”

“Nice to see both started in the military then.”

“But it never became a thing for everyone.”

“Then how does news work there?”

“Odin Allfather gives all the information that is needed.”

“That is the king, right?”

Loki nodded.

“And you told us that he manages trade.”

Loki nodded again, concentrated putting Somalia in its proper place.

“And he is judge and executioner, by what you told us.”

“Yes, of the Nine Realms.”

“Except Earth.”

“He isolated Midgard to protect it.”

“Look, Loki.” Virginia seemed uncomfortable, so Loki looked up from his maps. “You look like a clever guy, and I don’t know how to ask this nicely, but why do you work for him?”

“Why wouldn’t I? He is my king, and he is a wise one.”

“I’ll add some books about ethics and politics.” Virginia said resuming her finger tapping.

Tony didn’t have the patience to wait for those books; he explained how humans, or at least some humans, thought that nobody should have absolute control, no matter how wise. Loki needed a lot of time to understand their logic, but he understood it once he thought of what would happen if the king was a fool one, like Thor, or someone cruel, instead of Odin.

The idea had never crossed Loki’s mind, because, well, princes were educated to be kings, there wasn’t a chance of them becoming twisted like that. The human reasoned that power tended to corrupt even the best of people if it was in their hands for too long.

Loki rummaged on that for the rest of the trip, even though he kept answering their questions. It had to be a human fault, right? Power didn’t corrupt. It hadn’t corrupted Frigga, or Odin. Had they done something that Loki overlooked? He would have to read those books Virginia mentioned, on the off chance that the same human fault applied to other races.

In fact, he would need to take a lot of books with him, because they had told him that he couldn’t take one internet with him to Asgard, since it wasn’t really a spell, but more of their technology.

Then Virginia’s tapping produced a successful spell of light and the humans were too shocked to push their way of thinking on Loki. Virginia mastered production of light and changing colors in under an hour. Meanwhile the male human was so eager that he produced a minor light explosion, causing the caretakers of the contraption to very nearly panic, until Tony convinced them that his communication device had been the problem and that everything was solved.

Loki liked the smooth lie and how Virginia didn’t look ashamed of either magic or lies, as if they were accustomed to living among the arts most vilified in Asgard. Midgard was slowly becoming his favorite realm, behind Asgard.

They touched ground again and they were intact, to Loki’s surprise and relief. It would be troublesome, finding a pair of new sources of information if these two died now.

They directed him to a tower while Loki asked about literature, music, physics, alchemy, education… they answered to most of his questions, but Tony gave him what they called a tablet and Loki was mostly gone. He had all the answers he wanted in a very short time, even though there were many confusing sources that contradicted each other. Loki was an expert in reading between the lies. Loki could have left right then, but he was intrigued. The tower had a mechanical soul that quite impressed Loki. The humans called him Jarvis, but Loki didn’t need and introduction.

“I am aware of one Loki, or Lotpr, known as the Nordic God of Mischief, Lies, Chaos or Fire, depending on the text,” Jarvis said.

The humans seemed to suddenly realize that they actually knew some names of Asgard, although the machine knew much more than them. Unfortunately, Virginia had to leave them alone because of a Jet lag, whatever that was. She had a few parting words for Stark, though.

“Try not to anger our guest, Tony, we are under construction; there are no reinforced windows yet if he decides to throw you out,” Virginia said in a teasing tone.

“Believe me, if I ever wanted to throw him out, a window wouldn’t stop me,” Loki said while Tony opened his eyes comically.

“I so need to test that,” the human murmured.

“Tony?” Virginia crossed her arms.

“Yes?” Tony asked batting his eyelashes.

“Keep your thoughts out of the bedroom.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No I can’t, but I’m warning you.” Loki wondered briefly if there was some cultural difference of he was reading the situation right, then Virginia turned to him and offered her hand. “Loki, thank you for the spell, I hope to see you again, but if I don’t, I’m very glad of having met you.”

“I’m glad too.” Loki used the warriors’ handshake instead of the human hand-to-hand, just to confuse her. “You are a magnificent, wise woman and you make your species proud.”

“I would believe that if I wasn’t used to Tony being a charmer too,” she laughed.

Loki was a bit put upon, because he meant it, at least half of it, but the good humor of the human probably meant that she understood his good intentions behind the inflated compliment. The woman left them alone and they left the open room too once Tony had a couple of glasses ready with some dull drink.

They went to Tony’s workshop, which was similar to the ones he had seen when he went with his father to commission weapons to the best dwarves of the realm. Tony didn’t take any of the tools, though, he went directly to the scans on the other side of the room. Loki took the time to admire the armors on display, some of them very ingenious, especially for a magicless human.

Tony scanned him and his magic, so Loki took the chance to ask Jarvis, the mechanic soul, about those human myths about them.

“Yes, there is information about Thor, Frigg and Odin.”

Loki reviewed some of the texts about his brother before jumping to the other two. He smiled warmly at some stories that he remembered. Then he checked the date of the legends and he frowned.

“This is surprising.”

“What?” Tony said, distracted with some readings of his own.

“Some of these stories are true, but they happened long after they were written. I believe some of your Nordic antecessors were seers. They must have had latent magic at some point. What does it say about me?” Loki asked at the machine.

“Loki, although frequently included among the Aesir,” Jarvis started. “Was a Frost Giant, son of Farbauti and the giantess Laufey. He had several…”

Loki wasn’t listening anymore. How dared humans to compare him to one of those… those… monsters!? How dared?! A prince of Asgard! That affront should be paid in blood! Unfortunately, the offenders were long dead and, if the humans were to be trusted, the lie was spread all across the world.

“Loki. Are you with me?” Tony came from around a machine.

“Not particularly,” he grumbled.

Tony looked around the workshop in which they were, as if the answer was hanging somewhere. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I wasn’t even listening to you, ant,” Loki refused to look at Tony in the eye, fists clenched.

“Woa, cranky,” Tony then realized that he had been listening to Jarvis and he checked on the screen what they had been reading. “So, our antecessors were not actually seers?”

“Not by a long shot. I don’t even figure as an Aesir.”

“Oh. And that is… bad.” Tony’s tone was so deadpan that it only fed Loki’s fury.

“Jotuns are just beasts!” he exploded. “What would you say if you were remembered as a lowly beast?”

“You mean if someone called me ant, for example?” Tony grinned and Loki glowered, but now he was looking at Tony, which was progress, so he grinned broader. “As you might have noticed, I don’t give a damn what people call me. These myths are just oral tradition, and this here says that Christians tried to rewrite myths and make you the devil. I wouldn’t trust a word of this.”

Loki couldn’t hold on to his anger when there was nobody to blame, not really. He could take his anger on the mortal, but Tony was probably right. He sighed. “I guess your species know nothing about Jotuns.” Tony shook his head in the negative.

“I wouldn’t mind meeting another alien, though,” he had the gall to say, comparing him again to those beasts.

“Yes you would mind,” Loki said quietly. It was just one more insult to accept, but Midgard had seemed welcoming. He was sad of learning that he wasn’t liked here either. “They are brutal and mindless.”

“That Odin bloke is the one who says that?”

“I… all of Asgard knows it.” Loki frowned again. “All the warriors who came with Odin from that war say it.”

“Yeah, ok, another file for the ‘Odin says’” Tony dismissed his answer.

“What?” Loki deepened his frown.

“Look, don’t get pissy, but Pepper and I have been saving most of what you said as ‘Odin says’, since you don’t seem to have questioned him all that much.” Tony turned back to his machine.

“You dare question the Allfather?” Loki wasn’t as easy to anger as his brother, but this human was testing his patience.

“Yes I do!” Tony turned back to him, arms open wide, and now Loki realized that if the human had been testing his patience, Loki had been testing the human’s too, because he was angered. “It is what I do! It is what I’ve been doing since I came back!” Tony tapped his chest and a metal sound came from it. Was he wearing armor? “I question myself and others, so I will question you, your god of gods and everything you tell me!”

The human deflated a little when Loki didn’t stop him. Loki was too shocked to act. Nobody questioned Odin, Loki was the only one, sometimes, but Odin always had an answer, like when Loki had asked if Thor was really ready to rule. Odin was wise; Odin knew what he was doing, as his mother had repeated so many times before.

Loki wanted to challenge that human to a duel, defend Odin’s honor, but there was a small possibility of him being right. Even though Loki wanted to protect his father, he wanted to listen to the human more. For once, someone was saying something new, something that resonated deeply with Loki, something that felt true. It made that feeling of being tricked stir, not letting him turn his head away.

But Tony wasn’t done.

“I don’t know what is going on in that messed up castle in the sky of yours, but I was with Rhodey in the MIT. I’ve heard a fair share of insults, and I doubt your species would go to war with just mindless beasts. Your people are capable warriors, you said it, right?”

Loki was still speechless. It was true, it didn’t make sense and Loki had never challenged that knowledge, he had just accepted it. Asgard’s warriors were strong, but at least the generals were good strategists. If Giants had been just monsters, Asgard would have crushed them without a problem. Either Jotnar were intelligent or… no, nothing else made sense, so many things didn’t make sense…

“Oookay, I guess I really said something wrong there, but it’s not like that’s new, so listen. You’ve never seen one of those giants yourself, right? Maybe they are really all gore and destruction, but if there is even a shadow of doubt, don’t shoot, and look closer. It took me a stupidly long time to learn that, and if I can save you what I had to go through to learn that particular lesson, I will squeeze it in that alien head of yours.”

Tony seemed serious, deadly so. Loki… Loki wasn’t used to such a big influx of new information. Humans had short lives, though. It made sense that they thought quickly and learnt even faster. Maybe the human before him was actually older and wiser than him, despite the real age that separated them.

Actually, the human was magnificent, raging with seriousness and control. Muscles tense, but not jumping to defend his point with a weapon. Maybe Loki was avoiding that critic thinking that the human proposed, but his mind had decided to notice how attractively different the human was from the Aesir Loki was used to keep company.

Satisfied with Loki’s silence, Tony turned to tune some scanner and Loki had a perfect view of all the muscles that he hadn’t had time to notice before. As Tony crouched in one knee to change the wires in an awkward part of the machine, Loki decided that Midgard was back to being his second favorite realm. Not only was it intellectually refreshing, it had fantastic views.

Now, to see if it would become his first favorite realm,              

“Tony, what is the human position in regards to sex, for my report?” The human didn’t seem to mind blunt, so he didn’t bother hiding the smile that had nothing to do with his report.

Tony half-turned and looked at Loki from head to toe. “First tell me what is the alien position on the matter, for science, of course.”

By the morning, Loki hadn’t learned much more about Midgard, but it was firmly his favorite realm.


	4. We Know, They Don't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has his oaf of a brother done now? And why did it have to be on Midgard?

Virginia Potts came by the next morning (noon) while they were having breakfast and she sent a chastising look at Tony, who was wearing his boxers, a t-shirt, and rumpled hair. Loki had materialized a human plain shirt and slacks; Virginia looked at him with surprised eyes, but only wished a good morning. She pointed a finger at Loki while looking at Tony.

“Breakfast?” she asked instead of using a full sentence that would give Loki some context.

Tony shrugged. “He wasn’t awkward or sappy about it, so there is no reason not to.”

“And the…” Virginia made a round sign between her breasts.

“He didn’t even ask,” Tony cut her. “Hey, Loki, did you mind the night-light?”

“Surprising, but if you don’t mention it I won’t either. As far as I know, all humans might have it,” Loki said distractedly, biting into his sweet goods, but now aware that it was more important than he had thought the previous night.

“Figures,” she said before changing topics seamlessly and asking Loki about the books that she had left for him. Loki had already read seven of them while Tony slept, he could have finished nine, probably, but Tony had woken up and joined him in the sofa, consolidating his point about the favorite realm.

Virginia was a fantastic sounding board for all the questions Loki had, while Tony’s comments were sharp and cutting, both were very opinionated in different ways. Loki could see why they worked together; they were probably fearsome when they set their mind on something.

With the morning light and with the books, that critic thinking was easier to tackle. Loki was avoiding the topic of Odin, but he was bordering it dangerously, and Odin’s rule as king unraveled quickly with the help of the humans. It was particularly disheartening when they touched the topic of abusive relationships because of some historical figure of Midgard who had controlled his loved ones with words instead of spells.

Loki turned his head. If he looked closely, he might realize even Frigga was using her love in order to make Loki obey to Odin. Countless times Loki had complained about the king to his mother and she had only said, “We are both your parents, we love you, it is for your own good.” or some variation of it. Loki didn’t mind seeing Odin’s rule unravel, but that was his childhood, his whole life, and if his life fell with Odin, what would be left of Loki?

He was brusquely taken from his thoughts when he felt the Bifrost like a rip on his mind.

“What?” Virginia asked Loki.

“The Bifrost has opened.”

“The traveling-blackhole-thing?” Tony turned to a screen and asked Jarvis to find any peak of activity.

“What does it mean?” Virginia kept looking at Loki.

“I don’t know. I should have left this Realm hours ago, maybe Thor or Odin sent someone to look for me, but I’m not currently hiding from Heimdall, so I don’t know why they’d do it.”

“Sir, there was a peak of energy in New Mexico. Similar to the one recorded yesterday in Shanghai,” the voice came from the well-hidden speakers.

“Oh! The lightshow was you then!” Virginia muttered.

“This time there was a thunderstorm surrounding it.”

“Thor?” Both humans turned to Loki, who frowned worriedly, but nodded.

“I need to go and see what happened.”

“Wait, I’m going with you,” Tony exclaimed.

“Let me put on something sensible in my office and I’ll be there too,” Virginia said, ditching her high heels on the way to the elevator.

“The company?” Tony asked while he ran to his room to put on something else too.

“Give me a point of reception and I’ll move the world. I’ve got it covered,” she answered full of confidence.

The elevator closed and the bedroom door closed too, leaving Loki out, wondering when exactly he had given permission to the two humans to come along. Did he do some Midgarian invitation to share his problems without realizing? They would be useful, since Loki didn’t know what to expect of Earth, but he didn’t like waiting, and he could have changed their clothes for them if they had only given him time to react.

“Jarvis?” Loki asked dubiously.

“Can I help you?”

“Do you have images of the place where the energy was recorded?”

Instead of an answer, Jarvis showed images of a desert.

“And where are we?”

Jarvis added a world map with two points and a number in miles that meant nothing to Loki, since they had a different system in Asgard. Loki calculated the Asgardian distance and counted the speed at which the waves of the Bifrost travelled. It meant that the landing must have happened the previous night, Thor with Mjolnir could be anywhere by now. Loki would ask Heimdall, but he had never obeyed Loki, claiming that only the king could order him. It was an obvious lie; Heimdall answered Thor’s questions any day, but those weren’t orders, apparently.

The elevator opened and Virginia entered, wearing lively clothes, fitting for a sunny weather and shoes that would let her run if the need arose. She was also carrying a big purse and Loki feared what she could be hiding there.

“What do we have?” she said, pointing at the screen.

“I won’t use one of your planes again, so I wanted to see the place where I’m displacing us.”

The satellite image panned out and Virginia told Jarvis to stop.

“What is that?” The image got closer to a crater. “Maybe, there is nothing there, but a crater so close to the anomaly in an otherwise plain dessert might have something to do with us.” Virginia looked at Loki, who nodded in agreement.

“WAIT A SECOND YOU TWO!” Tony said running, already dressed in a suit, from the bedroom to the workshop.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” Virginia shouted back.

“SUIT!” said Tony’s voice.

“I swear he is becoming dependant on them.” Virginia pinched the bridge of her nose. Loki could also see why his humans wouldn’t want to be romantically involved.

“Done,” Tony said as he carried a heavy-looking suitcase. “Should we take my jet or is it better if-”

“He is teletransporting us.” Virginia stopped him.

Tony’s eyes lighted up and he whispered something like “Best day ever.”

Loki didn’t waste any time and touched both of their shoulders as he concentrated on the place Jarvis had showed him. A second later, they were under a scorching sun and Tony was repeating “Best day ever” louder.

The knotted pattern was before them, and he wished he had learnt to read it, but he only had bothered learning the pattern for when the Bifrost was opened forcefully. What he could see was the sand in the shape of a recent storm, even though the sun had dried it already. If there were any other marks, trails or footprints, the rain must have erased them.

“We have company.”

Virginia was pointing in the direction of the crater, which was barely visible from their position, but there was something moving there. She was using her hand to throw a shade over her eyes and, even though she was perfectly composed, she had something wild in her that the desert accentuated much better than Shanghai or the plane.

Meanwhile Tony had been tapping on his mobile device and he pointed in the opposite direction. “There is civilization over there. If I was lost in the desert, I would…”

Virginia turned to Tony, who had suddenly fallen silent and was looking intently at the mobile phone with an empty look. She kneaded his shoulder and he looked up, slightly startled and breathing deeply.

“You spaced out.”

“Let’s see that crater of yours.” Tony ignored the soft words.

“I shouldn’t teleport; whoever is there will see us,” Loki admitted.

Tony whined inelegantly and Loki laughed at him, despite being worried about his brother. The walk to the crater was interesting enough, thanks to the conversation, and when they were almost there, a pickup offered to take them the rest of the way. They took up the offer, because the case that Stark was carrying was actually very heavy and useless (unlike Virginia’s purse, which had, among other things, sun cream and an umbrella).

The driver told them that he wanted to move the hammer in the middle of the crater with his pickup, and that was how Loki knew where Mjolnir was even before they arrived there. The trio hid in the border of the crater while people tried to move the mighty tool. The humans asked about it, and Loki answered readily.

“Whoever is worthy will be able to pick it up.”

“Quite Arthurian,” Virginia commented.

“You think I could move it with the suit?” Tony asked.

“Don’t bother,” Loki bit his lip. “It was enchanted by Odin himself.” Tony understood immediately that Loki thought it could be tampered and retracted his idea of the suit. Doubting the Allfather was becoming easier and easier.

“What do we do now?” Virginia asked.

Tony crouched quickly and signaled them to do the same.

“Look there, Pepper. Is that who I thing I’m seeing?”

“Phil?!”

“Agent has a name?” Tony looked at Pepper.

Loki looked at the man who seemed out of place. He was wearing a suit, much like Tony’s, and he was speaking on his mobile device, he was the only one not focused on the hammer.

“Should we dispose of him?” Loki asked.

“We try not to kill people on planet Earth,” Virginia said warily.

Loki remembered one of those ethic books he had read and the Human Rights. He nodded in understanding, so he apologized and they sneaked away as discretely as they could in the desert. They convinced a different pickup driver to take them to Puente Antiguo, since the previous one had busted his axle trying to move Mjolnir.

At least Tony said it was the axle. If Loki hadn’t already known that the man was an inventor, the way he whined while the group of brutes was overtaxing the engine would have clued him in. Loki could see that the man loved engines like Loki loved magic, with a passion.


	5. Cue the Thunderer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are not brothers anymore.

The driver left them in the middle of the main street and drove off. Virginia suggested a visit to the Hospital, the police, or even the morgue, but Loki had faith in the thick head of his brother. Thor hadn’t called Mjolnir to him, so he had to be unconscious or terribly occupied. The first option was more probable, but that also meant that there had to be some kind of enemy close.

They walked around aimlessly for a few hours, and then some more after eating something, until Tony wondered aloud if the other god would be lost enough to go alone into the desert. Loki wanted to say that Thor was cleverer than that, and that he would have called Mjolnir in that case, but if he had been hit with a mind spell, he wasn’t sure.

The sun was almost setting, so Tony proposed patrolling from the sky in case he picked some heat signature or something. Virginia mentioned sarcastically that Tony had been dying to use the suit and how it would be the perfect camouflage with the crimson sunset, so subtle. He only laughed, set the suitcase on the ground and softly kicked it so the bulk started to mold around the inventor.

Loki face-palmed. Of course it was a suit-case. He couldn’t call it armor like the rest of them. Instead of complaining about the terrible choice of name, he commented the other thing that had surprised him.

“I didn’t realize you were a warrior as well as an inventor, I thought your armors were for the selling, like the dwarves, but I should have known, since I practically mapped your muscles last night.”

“Yeah, I, on the other hand, was completely unsurprised when I saw this morning that you were also called Silvertongue.” Tony answered lewdly, pulling an involuntary laugh from Loki.

“Oh God.” Virginia groaned. “If either of you makes a reference to Iron Man right now, I promise blood and paperwork.”

“No, his joke was tasteless enough, not to mention unoriginal.”

“Good, now, unless you are going to offer making a sandwich, I recommend you keep last night to yourselves.” Virginia’s statement was clearly final, but Tony in his armor didn’t get the tone or completely ignored it. Virginia was used to it though, because he had only breathed to talk when she interrupted. “Tony, don’t.”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t offer”

“Why?” They bantered. “Loki, are you up to making a sandwich with her?”

“You are my boss,” Virginia cut before Loki could agree.

“I could give you my company.”

“Then _I_ ’d be your boss.”

“I could give my company to Rhodey.”

“You wouldn’t-” She sighed deeply. “Why do I act surprised, of course you would. Go before I dismantle that armor and shove it…”

“Woa, Potts, leave the kinks for the second date?” And with that Tony took to the sky, because apparently he wasn’t happy if he couldn’t have the last word. Loki could relate.

“Insufferable overgrown baby,” Virginia muttered fondly.

Loki and Virginia couldn’t do much more on their own, since the shops were closing, people leaving, and nobody had a moment to answer a few questions, so they found a spot with Wi-Fi and she started to manage Stark Industries’ affairs with the small device. Loki wasn’t getting bored as he had expected; her work was half-numbing, half-hypnotizing. It was relaxing if one wasn't Miss Potts.

Tony came back shortly after the night became completely dark. He didn't have new leads for them. Loki transported them back to the tower, because it didn’t make sense to sleep somewhere strange when they could sleep in their own beds, well, on Tony’s bed, because they were not going to pass the opportunity of a repeat. Loki was worried, but not deadly so, there wasn’t a reason why he couldn’t spend one more night with the mortal.

Except, when they were actually resting, Tony’s device sounded annoyingly and Tony moved an arm, without pulling his face from the pillow, to silence the thing after the third tone.

“Whasit, Jay? Can’t, no, _won’t_ move.”

Loki chuckled next to him.

“Sir, SHIELD deployed a base in the location you visited earlier today. Someone has tried to break in to take the hammer without luck, he is being held prisoner.”

“Can’t be Thor, humans couldn’t take him, he would have taken Mjolnir.”

“This is the face of the prisoner.”

It was actually a recording that hurt their eyes when Jarvis turned it on; it was clearly Thor and he clearly couldn’t move the damned hammer. Not only that, but humans had managed to reduce him. Loki wasn’t even slightly sleepy anymore. Tony was also awake and studying Loki’s expression.

“Pepper will eat me up when I wake her.”

She didn’t eat them up, in the end, but she did come to the tower in a full business suit and asked Loki to take them back to Puente Antiguo. They were there as soon as Tony picked up his suitcase. Loki spent the way there explaining how wrong it was that Thor couldn’t lift the hammer and that he had been subdued so easily. Loki could only imagine that there had been a spell cast upon him to make Thor less than Aesir, probably unfit to lift the hammer.

There were very few mages capable of such a feat besides Odin. Loki started to think in other possible names until he remembered that Odin could very well have done it. If that was the case, Loki wouldn’t be able to help; he was crafty and quite powerful, but Odin had the power of millennia of experience.

The night was cold in Puente Antiguo and Loki barely recognized the location they had visited in the morning. Now there was a feeble construction of plastic and metal that wasn’t meant to be durable. Thor would have charged from one side and come out from the other with a well placed challenge, and yet he was trapped.

There were other humans next to the construction, though, and Loki pointed in their badly hidden direction before Virginia could engage the guards at the door. Tony approached them and came back shortly after with news and a pair of humans. Tony introduced them as famous scientists that he knew, and Thor’s new human friends since the previous night. The ones that had Thor prisoner had robbed their investigation and they had come to free Thor by any means available.

Tony tried to ask them questions about astrophysics that Loki recognized as the final links to understanding the theory behind the Bifrost, but Virginia asked them to be quiet as she lead the small group to the front door.

“Good night, gentlemen, I think there has been a mistake regarding some of our assets,” she was politeness made flesh, if someone were to ask Loki.

One of the guards muttered to his Walkie while the other tried to shoo away the civilian.

“I’ll make myself clear, gentlemen, I’m rather hoping there has been a mistake that I will be able to smooth out with Mr. Coulson, because if this is an intended attack against Stark Industries I will leave and I won’t even have to come back to make your lives miserable.”

“Miss Potts?” Coulson’s voice came from behind the guards. “And Mr. Stark.”

“In flesh and bone, Agent,” Tony waved cheerfuly. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“See, I received a call in the middle of the night telling me that some mystery agency had stolen one of Stark’s Industries most secret R&D labs. Is there any other agency I should know about or do we need to have serious words over this?”

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Tony said like an exaggerated lovesick puppy.

“We will need some explanations before we can let any of this go.” Coulson led them inside and to what looked like an interrogation room.

“I will be glad to explain to anyone who signs a non-disclosure agreement.”

“We already have scientists working on this.”

“This is Stark’s Industries intellectual property.” Virginia looked around as if she was worried of someone listening. “Look, Phil, I don’t want to fill a lawsuit, but we have been working on this for a long time. One of our scientists had a mental breakdown when he found out that you had taken all of their work away. Big, blond… we are all worried about him.”

“We weren’t aware that you had a laboratory here.”

“That is why it was a secret, Phil. Hammer has been trying to steal our best patents recently, and you know how industrial espionage works. Even the scientists thought that they worked for a small, modest company.”

Phil crossed his arms, looking at Virginia’s amused entourage.

“What is with the hammer?”

“An excuse to investigate quark-gluon plasma solidified. Densest fucking metal known to man.” Tony lied smoothly to support Virginia.

Coulson looked through some papers.

“Can you explain the ray of energy?”

“It is part of my investigation about micro-wormholes. Nothing to be worried about,” Jane lied much more nervous; but the straining situation covered it up.

“You are aware that it looks like a death ray.”

Jane laughed nervously. “Yes, well, but it is not. The friction between black matter and black energy makes it look like that.”

If Coulson could see what a lot of bullshit they were vomiting, he didn’t say. The oldest scientist produced a plastic rectangle with Thor’s face; an identification that made their lives considerably easier.

“And you are?” Coulson pointed at Loki, obviously suspicious because he hadn’t talked yet.

“Awfully quiet most of the time, agent Coulson, as any secretary should be.” Loki showed a winning smile and refused to explain himself, but Coulson didn’t need more.

“You can take your research.” He guided them to a room with blackboards and notes, so rudimentary that Tony was appalled. Jane Foster was extremely happy, though. “Our scientists were about to tell me that all was gibberish anyway. I must admit I’m curious as to how you’ll take the hammer.”

Loki shook his head minutely so Virginia would see it.

“Unfortunately, we need special equipment that we have deployed to a different location. It will take some time before they stop needing it there, but it is not likely that someone will take it, right?" Virginia looked at the screens and monitors pointedly. "You understand that we can’t leave any copies of this laying around.”

“I think we might compromise, if you accept to put that poor scientist to therapy or give him a long vacation. He was completely gone when he attacked.”

“Of course, the poor guy deserves it.”

“Should I show you to him then?”

The two scientists wanted to follow, but Loki put a hand on the shoulder of the eldest.

“Maybe he shouldn’t see a familiar face in his state, who knows how he might react?” Meaning that he would blow their cover as soon as he put his eyes on them.

Virginia and Tony nodded.

“Why don’t you take the investigation with you while we bail our boy out?”

Surprisingly, taking the research material was a very fast process when five shield agents were helping. Loki was then introduced to Darcy Lewis, who had been waiting in the car with a phone to call someone if things went ‘pear shaped’, as she said.

Later Tony and Virginia came out flanking a vey taciturn Thor. Tony was making wild gestures to keep them silent, so nobody said a word while the human checked his phone constantly and took seven small devices from them and the research material.

“Was that all, Jarvis?”

“All I can trace,” Jarvis answered from the device.

“Ok. Two things,” said Darcy. “One. They really bugged us? And two. Is that Tony Fucking Stark?”

Tony waved with a flippant façade that Loki had not seen until then. He paid no mind, he had other problems to attend to.

“Brother, are you alright?” Loki asked, feeling the lack of anything Aesir in him. He was human.

“Brother?!” Thor said enraged for some reason. “How can you call me brother? You left me on the day of my coronation! Odin had to come and tell me that you were envious because the throne was mine! You didn’t have the honor to tell me yourself!” Thor made a wide gesture that nearly hit the humans at his side. “I was alone and when the Vanir attacked I did what any warrior would have done! You were the one who ran away, like a coward, instead of helping me to convince father that I was doing the right thing killing them!”

“Why?” Loki muttered. “Why would father say that? Brother, I didn't...”

“LEAVE! YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER ANYMORE!”

Loki took a step back as if he had been struck instead of shouted at.

“Wait, Blondie, you blame him because he wasn’t there to fix and cover your fuckup? That’s messed.” Tony spoke up, but all the humans looked uncomfortable.

“Don’t interfere, human.”

“I don’t like him,” Tony stated, moving to stand besides Loki.

“You weren’t there when you were supposed to be!”

“But father…” Loki struggled with his words, he had made an Aesir binding oath, he couldn’t explain himself or his blood would stop in his veins.

“It was your fault. Fandral was hurt, almost didn’t make it back in time. I told father that he was an old fool for letting Vanir roam so freely. He cast me out! Where were you? Hiding! Like a dirty traitor, like Sif told me.”

“Father was the one who sent me on a mission! What is your right to tell me where to be, brother? I was where father sent me!”

“LIES!”

“Ok. Why don’t we all go to sleep and tomorrow everything will look brighter,” Darcy tried to placate Thor.

She wouldn’t have been successful, but all the other humans reacted at her cue, pulling both gods away from each other.

“One last question, brother.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Why did father cast you out? For killing the Vanir?”

“Nay. It was because I called him an old fool.”

Loki sighed and sent them back to the tower when the sun was breaking the line of horizon through the recently-installed windows. They made a beeline to the also new sofas and let themselves relax slightly, with Loki ocupying the space between them. Loki remembered to thank the humans for their help and he complimented their ability to lie, a compliment that in Asgard would have been a slight, while the humans were flattered.

Loki was worried, though. He had broken the oath, he had told Thor. Telling the humans didn’t count because they were not Aesir and barely magical gifted, but Thor? Loki should be dead. Loki should be very dead because he had chosen to tell his brother the truth over keeping an oath to the Allfather. Were oaths a lie too?

And then, Thor’s reason to be punished… it wasn’t because he had killed those Vanir, it wasn’t a punishment to his light-headed decisions, but to his rebellion. Questioning Odin was worse than a diplomatic disaster; that was the lesson.

And the lies… why would Odin lie to Thor like that if not to make hate bloom between the brothers?

“Penny for your thoughts?” Tony asked, breaking the silence.

“I’d rather hear your thoughts on this,” Loki answered. "Mine are scattered."

“Well, just to start, I don’t like your brother or former brother, but, Pepper, we are going to include Foster in our payroll before Shield tries anything.”

“It was already in the agenda.” She took her shoes off. “Loki, don’t let that guy bring you down. He is angry and placing the blame everywhere but on himself.”

“I am aware; his words are not the problem. It is a lifetime of the same words what is driving me insane, and my broken oath. I feel that father is planning something, but I can’t understand what.”

“What do you have?” Virginia sat closer to the edge of her seat and Tony lay on the side of the couch, placing his feet on Loki’s lap. Loki was too deep in his mind to care.

“He must have set everything up to send Thor to kill the Vanir, he is efficient manipulating Thor’s rage, and the Vanir have been the only ones capable of facing Odin in combat for some time.”

“So that was a trap for Thor,” Tony summarized, eyes closed and arms behind his head.

“I think Thor's failure and a harsh punishment to his own son will make Odin seem still powerful in the other Realms.”

“Exemplary punishment, yes. I can see that too.” Virginia agreed.

“But he sent Thor to Midgard, exactly when I was meant to leave it and he lied about why I was absent. Why?”

“Maybe he wanted you two to fight?” Tony guessed.

“Maybe it was a mistake. He was sent here as you left, so Thor could fester in the lies before you had a chance to explain yourself while you were away in your mission,” Virginia offered a more complex explanation.

“But why? Thor is supposed to trust me as his right hand.”

“Are you sure of that? We told you that it is not easy to let go of power, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to be the power from the shadows when Thor takes the throne,” she explained.

“It fits with his past as a trickster, I guess, and it explains why he punished Thor for challenging him.” Loki looked outside, at the skyline. “But then what is his plan for me?”

“He has been using you two!” Tony almost shouted. “Why do you care what that man wants with you?”

“Tony, he is a Prince, he can’t just not care.” Virginia folded her legs under her, sitting as comfortably as the couch allowed.

“You are both right. I’m starting to see that father never expected of me what I thought he did, and with each trick he plays on me, it matters less, but as Virginia said-”

“Why don’t you call her Pepper? It sounds weird when you call her that,” Tony complained.

“As _Virginia_ said,” Loki pushed, looking briefly her way to check if she was annoyed. She seemed more amused than annoyed, he was safe. “I can’t simply forget that he has a plan for me, because he will still force it on me one day.”

“I’d say soon. He has been moving a lot of pieces,” Virginia remarked.

“I need to play along until I find what he wants from me.” Loki dropped his head on the back of the couch. “Knowing his rules is the only way to find a loophole.”

The three stayed blissfully silent, almost dozing off on the couch after the eventful night. Virginia had to work, though, so at seven o clock she said her goodbyes and wished them good luck with the family reunion. Loki didn’t want to think anymore, so he pushed the human forward and made himself a space between the back of the couch and Tony’s back.

“I don’t do this mushy cuddling thing, alien.”

“Shut up and sleep, human.” Loki chucked and taunted Tony pulling him closer, throwing an arm over his waist. Tony slept until well after noon, despite his initial protests when he found that Loki’s arm could be a veritable dead weight, not that he tried that much to move it.


	6. Asgard's Finest Join the Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind words turn to blows.

They were woken up by a delivery boy that Virginia had sent to the penthouse, knowing that they would still be asleep. Loki tried a hamburger for the first time and they debated what to do now that they were awake.

Loki knew that Thor was a pig head, but he didn’t want to lose his brother if there was a chance of keeping him. He wanted to try and, fortunately, Tony had been sucked into the drama, even if it had nothing to do with him or with his beloved science. Loki was very glad of having someone with him, even if he valued doing things on his own, without help, above everything.

On the way to meet his brother Loki told the human that he was going to visit Jotunheim the next day, as if nothing had happened, to keep the Allfather unaware. Tony had become pensive. Loki didn't ask him what he was thinking, because they found Thor and the humans having drinks in a terrace very early in their search.

“Afternoon, lady, doctors, Thor…” Tony strutted to the table, turned a chair, and sat as if he owned the place. Loki followed suit despite not feeling quite confident. The humans greeted back and quickly struck conversation with Tony, leaving the brothers to their own affairs.

“Loki,” Thor said dryly.

“Thor,” Loki answered in kind. He was not going to push the title of brother and risk angering him further.

“I have not changed my mind overnight,” Thor snarled.

“I didn’t expect any different from you,” Loki responded, almost amused.

“And what does that mean?” Thor's tone meant that he was angry again, and he knew he was being mocked, even though he didn’t understand why. Loki felt a spike of rage himself. Had the witless idiot not thought about their conversation at all?

“It means that you are a…” Loki felt a hand on his thigh “…bandoned, among humans, and you deserve an explanation before you judge me.”

Tony was still talking to the humans, but apparently he could follow two conversations at the same time, and so could the other humans. At least Darcy had noticed Tony’s gesture and was grinning widely. However obvious the gesture, Tony was right in stopping Loki. This wasn’t about telling Thor the truth -Thor couldn’t handle the truth- this was about pacifying his brother.

“What could you say to redeem yourself? What was more important than my coronation?” Thor sounded hurt; he had a fist against his chest and everything, but Loki wasn’t feeling any pity. Where was Thor when Loki became a Master Mage? But that didn’t matter now.

“Odin wanted it to be your day,” Loki said, keeping his voice consciously low and pleasant. “He thought that I would hinder your day of glory; he assigned me a mission so I wouldn’t darken your celebrations.”

“Why would Odin do that?” Change was in the way. At least Thor didn’t sound angry anymore.

“He is a wise king; he thought it was the best for you,” Loki parroted Frigga’s words, although he didn’t believe them anymore. It worked like a charm. Thor’s frown dissolved like salt in warm water. “I didn’t know I was needed by your side, I thought I was being useful to Asgard in my mission,” Loki doubted for a moment, “brother.”

It was working. Loki had centuries of experience with Thor and his tantrums. The little smiles would be soon followed by a hand on the nape and then Loki only had to say he was sorry for what he did. The script didn't play out. The Norns weren’t in a good mood, nor did they share Loki’s expectations, because the worst had to happen when Loki was involved.

“Thor!” They turned to the newcomers. Asgardian, cheerful, loud, and out of place: The Warriors Three and Sif.

Tony looked at them disdainfully from over his sunglasses. Loki was glad of seeing old faces and knowing that his brother wasn’t completely alone. Tony snorted at their loud antics and, mentally, Loki thought about his millennia-old friendship with the Asgardians an compared it with Tony and Virginia, who had been there for barely a blink. His old friends left a bad taste in his mouth in comparison. Thor jumped from his chair to greet them and to introduce his human friends.

Then the warriors noticed Loki. They had overlooked him in his new Midgardian clothes. Their whole demeanor changed. “I see we weren’t wrong. We heard the traitor was here!” Sif started.

“Of course you would wait until Thor was a weak mortal to attack, that is who you are, vile scoundrel!” Volstagg followed.

“I don’t like these either,” Tony stated loudly making the warriors frown and brightening Loki where he had been about to crumble under the obvious hate of his so-called friends and his brother’s indifference. Tony looked at Loki complicity and it made Loki feel confident enough to put on a show for the mortal.

“And good day to you too! Welcome to Earth, friends. Fandral, I hear that you were hurt in battle, I’m glad to see you fare better now. Tony, these are the finest warriors Asgard has to offer, although manners are not their strong point, as you can see.”

Tony had a radiant, insolent smile directed their way. “I do see. They just interrupted a grown up conversation without any care in the world.”

“I won't apologize. It would be better to keep the lie-smith’s mouth sewn shut,” said Sif.

“And self-centered too!" Tony kept smiling, not hiding how fake it actually was. "I was talking about my conversation with the lovely Miss Lewis.”

“Who are you to deride us thus, mortal?” Volstagg said, turning red.

“He is of no consequence to you," Loki interrupted before the situation could escalate. "What is your business on Earth?” 

“We came to protect Thor in case vermin like you got _ideas._ ” Sif said unsheathing her short sword.

“Norns help anyone who has ideas in Asgard,” Loki said quickly, without moving from his seat despite the obvious threat. “What did I _do_ to you?” Loki asked, already tired of their insults and of the way Thor seemed more inclined to side with them than to help Loki out.

“You dumped us when we fought the Vanir. We lost,” Hogun said simply.

“Wow, Loki, darling, you didn’t tell me that they couldn’t even function without you,” Tony teased them further.

“Function? Have you been telling them lies about us too?” Sif tensed.

Loki noticed that Thor’s humans had retreated somewhere safe. The other customers had done something similar. Tony, because he was as stupid as brilliant, was still sitting next to him with just the ice clinking in his glass.

“No, we have been exchanging information. Asgard sounds like a _piece of shi_ nny heaven.”

Loki, a bit more familiarized with Tony’s way of speaking, almost snorted un-princely, but Sif had to ruin the bit of humor.

“You have been telling mortals about Asgard, Loki? You traitor, how low can you fall? You came to kill your own brother, didn’t you?”

“I only need to explain myself to Odin and I only choose to do so to Thor.”

“You refuse to tell the truth to the Warriors of Asgard?” Sif took a fighting stance while Loki still sat relaxed. “We shall fight until you yield, then.”

Loki looked at them unimpressed, but he couldn’t refuse, so he stood up lazily to prove how much this wasn’t his idea.

“Hey, big guy,” Tony called Thor’s attention. “What do you think about this whole stupidity?”

“They have a right to duel for the truth if Loki is being difficult,” Thor said matter-of-factly. Tony was tempted to throw the glass at the muscled blond.

Instead, he crunched a piece of ice between his teeth, calling Loki’s attention this time. With the foot that he had crossed over his knee, Tony tapped twice his suitcase. Loki shook his head once and he turned to fight the four warriors. Loki-long-as-life looked incredibly small without armor or weapons, Tony would lie if he said that he wasn’t worried. The hero's only tell was how he stood up to watch from the sidelines, faithful suitcase by his side.

“Would you really duel our friends instead of telling the truth, Loki?” Thor bellowed.

“Don’t talk to him, Thor! He isn’t worth wasting your breath,” Fandral said calmly, favoring his right side.

“Enough!” Sif said as if they had been reciting the Terms and Agreements instead of a few words. “Let’s fight.”

Loki, as the challenged, had to start. He sent a pittance of magic their way, because they were just waiting to jump and Loki liked playing with other people’s expectations. Hogun and Fandral launched themselves forward at the same time, but coordinated enough that they missed each other when Loki feinted backwards.

Volstagg threw his axe. Loki feinted again, this time to the right, where Fandral was waiting with his sword. Loki crouched and kicked one of Fandral’s legs from under him. Sif was there in a second and Loki retreated further back, so they wouldn’t circle him completely. Hogun threw a knife that Loki caught mid-air and threw back at his owner. Volstagg used the distraction to try to punch Loki’s head.

Loki swung back easily, but Sif used his fragile equilibrium against Loki, sweeping his legs from under him. Loki’s back hit the earth, Sif pulled her sword back, and Loki didn’t doubt that she’d aim for the head. The others were too close to roll away to safety, so he teleported a few meters back.

“You cheat again, liar!” Sif shouted.

“And you fight four against one, cowards!” Tony responded from his position on the side. Loki didn’t need anyone to defend him, but the mouthy human was a boost to his confidence and a reason to show off in front of someone who didn’t consider magic a dirty trick.

The axe Volstagg had thrown was right next to him. Loki picked it up and swung it a couple of times around himself to make sure the other four kept their distance. Hogun attacked from the far left when the momentum of the axe was on the opposite side, but Loki had seen it coming and here was a magic shield blocking the mace when it came, then the momentum of the axe was back on the right and Hogun had to step back or lose his nose.

Volstagg was nearly useless without his axe, but Sif and Fandral attacked at the same time when the axe was away, one aiming for the side, while the other aimed for the neck. Loki deflected Fandral’s long sword, but Sif’s was aimed in a perfect straight line, so Loki’s shield didn't deviate it. She pushed the sword against the shield while Loki focused on keeping it up.

The tip of her sword was starting to break the shield. Hogun attacked again with the mace and the shield that he found wasn’t as strong as the first one had been. Volstagg planted himself with Sif and he helped her to push the sword. Unable to concentrate on everything at the same time, Loki threw the axe on top of a building and focused on deflecting both Hogun and Fandral, who could attack now without watching for the axe.

The short sword was now almost an inch into the shield, but it wasn’t enough to break it. Fandral saw that and he turned to help his shield-brothers to push. Hogun was still trying to tire him with the mace, at least he was for a few hits. Shortly after, it was the brute strength of the four Aesir against Loki’s shield.

They were pushing with all they had and Loki’s feet were sliding on the loose gravel. It looked like Loki was about to lose until everything snapped. The shield gave way, the group toppled over each other, a spear appeared next to them, fixed in the ground, making it obvious that they would be dead if Loki had placed the spear a little to the right. Loki himself was both on their left and their right with a mischievous smile.

Clapping and whistling came from the side where Tony was still witnessing everything. Thor was silent a few steps away from him, sulking. The clapping was clearly grating on the warriors’ nerves, which, in turn, only made Tony clap harder.

“You fight us now because Thor is human, if Thor was here you wouldn’t dare,” Sif shouted once again.

“You are the ones who challenged him?!” Tony shouted back with a disbelieving tone before being promptly ignored.

They stood up and Loki didn’t bother restraining himself short of really hurting them; what he wanted was humiliation, blood wasn't required for that. Two illusions accompanied the clones and he let his magic free, making the floor slippery or sticky without a way of differentiating one and the other, he pushed and pulled with invisible hands, he made their weapons melt together, he shape-shifted into each of them and planted ilusions until they were scared of hitting their own shadows, he made them confused as he had always wanted in the training grounds.

Loki dissolved the copies and he faced them as one once again. Volstagg was still useless without his axe, and as soon as he kicked Fandral’s sword away, so was the dashing warrior. Hoggun was a bit more complicated, but he tweaked the shield spell so everything that struck, stuck. Soon Hogn was out of weapons too.

“LOKI!” Seriously, what was with that woman and shouting?

Loki looked her way, and saw that she was holding Tony with a blade to his neck. Thor was still a few steps away and he looked impressed… by Sif. He had let her get close to Tony, even though they would have claimed dishonor if Loki had been the one to do it. Tony didn’t look impressed at all, more like the opposite, actually.


	7. Iron Man Joins the Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only aliens would expect Tony to stay still while threatened.

Loki kept an eye on the other warriors, because they would stab him in the back given half a chance, but he looked otherwise as unimpressed as the human. Loki crossed his arms in front of his chest to reinforce the impression of apathy.

“LOKI, YIELD IMMEDIATELY OR THIS HUMAN WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.”

“Can I now?” Tony said half-bored half-pleading.

“Suit yourself,” Loki said without shouting, to make a point about volume.

“Pfff, Alien, that was awful,” Tony scoffed.

“Thank you, I _do_ try to stoop to your standards.”

Tony kicked the suitcase, bent his knee and shot a repulsor through the sole as soon as the boot was in place. It hit the lady in the crotch, which wasn’t exactly a fatal or disabling wound in a female, but it made her lose her grip on Tony, giving the armor time to cover him whole. Then Tony shot two more blasts to the lady, for ignoring him, and one more to the sword that asshole number three was trying to pick up.

He flew to Loki’s side (he couldn’t walk, it was below his dignity), and stood, even more at ease now that he wasn't banished to the sidelines.

“Are we done? Because I’m very done with this bullshit, Loki.”

Asshole number two threw another dagger and Tony shot it out of its trajectory, he also sent two blasts in quick succession that made asshole two tumble backwards.

“Loki. Control your human!” asshole number three exclaimed. “Only the challengers can participate in a challenge.”

Tony shot a missile at asshole three’s feet, making him back off further. “You mean like when lady asshole over there forced my hand in this entire challenge thing?”

“He can’t talk to us like that, tell him to stop,” asshole number one protested.

Tony sent another missile to a trashcan that exploded right next to him and covered the guy in, well, trash. Asshole with a sword tried to hit Tony, but he was slow and probably tired after fighting with Loki, so Tony only had to stop the hit with one gauntlet and try to cut through the sword with the laser on the other gauntlet. The asshole took the weapon away before the cut was complete, but in the next hit the sword bent by the weak spot and the sword was rendered useless.

“Volstagg!” One of the assholes had somehow climbed to a building and was throwing the axe to the other asshole.

Tony flew there in time to intercept the throw. That damned thing was heavy! How had Loki swung it so gracefully before? And, now that he was in the air, what were those two guys doing, sitting at the edge of the building? Oh, modern weapons, Shield. Perfect, so much for keeping this quiet. They had to get out of there quickly. If they got their grabby hads on his alien, they would dissect Loki, who, by the way, was just standing smiling in the middle of the street with his hands clasped behind his back contemplating Iron Man without bothering to move a finger. 

“Enjoying the show, lazy ass?” Tony said through the speakers as he dropped the axe right in front of him. Nevermind that the little shit was making a point of the _weak_ human trashing Asgard's heroes, he couldn't just stay there and look pretty.

“I tired them out for you, what else do you want?” Loki picked the axe and put it over his shoulder without moving another inch that wasn’t to make his face more irritating with a beautiful grin; still looking pretty, still doing nothing. Loki’s strong hands around the handle of the axe were also giving Tony hell, but that wasn’t for public consumption.

“What else do I want? For starters, right now I want the thing you did with the clones, but your brother is within earshot.” Tony landed next to Loki, as the four warriors closed in on them.

Loki laughed. “Like modesty would stop you.”

“For seconds, it would be nice if Shield stopped following us.”

Loki turned to look in the direction Tony was pointing and the four warriors attacked at the same time. Tony made a sweeping motion and his repulsors shot four times, knocking the weapons from three hands. The fourth one, the woman, had expected the hit and had managed to keep her hand firmly grasping the sword. She had recuperated immediately and had launched all her weight on the attack against Iron Man’s blue light, point first, as she had done with Loki's shield.

In the second before Sif could make contact with the arc reactor, Tony saw his mistake. He was too slow and the casing wouldn't ressist the super-strenth, his emergency reactor was in New York and he wouldn't reach it in time. Tony could imagine hearing the crystal break and the illusion of the sound made time stop and his heart race.

Tony felt the moment the blade touched the suit, but the crashing sound didn't come, instead he felt pressure, and the frontal plates denting inwards. The human inside the suit suddenly realized there was a green shine between the point of the sword and the arc reactor, covering the dented area. Loki, next to Tony, had an almost feral look and he had a possesive hand splayed against his side. Tony couldn’t feel it through the suit, of course, but there were lines of green energy flowing from Loki's fingers to the arc reactor. Before the woman could push any further or someone got the idea of helping, Tony shot a repulsor to her face.

Her eyebrows, eyelashes and the start of her hairline were burnt and gone, but Tony didn’t notice or laugh. He was scared, touched by Loki’s saving and with a sudden rush of adrenaline. He shot the remaining warriors. First to the feet, until they were at a good distance from them, and then he took to the sky, shooting strategically, maybe caring a little less about destroying public property and maybe with the repulsors in a little stronger setting.

Tony directed them to the spot where Thor stood, calmly watching (still sulking), and they fell to a defensive position around him. Tony landed again, but kept the repulsors fully charged and pointing at them.

“I’m done with you." He didn't shout, he was feeling numb, it was just a statement. "I will kick your ass off-earth if I see you again, I don’t care who you lot are, and I don’t give a fuck about your space drama, but those guys over there-”

The woman tried the same move again to spear his reactor, but this time Tony was swift to step aside from her pointy stick and to push her to the ground using her own jump.

“-they already captured Thor once and I’m not inclined to saving him twice. So you’d better run from here-”

Tony took a knife from where it had just lodged between plates, too close to be any real threat. Tony took it and pointed at the warriors like a teacher scolding a student, ruler in hand.

“-with Doctor Foster and company before they bring the big toys, because, you, bunch of idiotic, medieval, witless aliens, have blown the protection we provided with all this circus.”

“Ha! What protection could a human give to…”

Tony wasn’t even listening. He knew that he had been playing with fire and that it was his fault that he had been close enough to get burnt, but there was a thrill with the fright. Tony couldn’t even pretend for himself that he wouldn’t taunt gods with super-strength the next time, because he knew it was exactly the first thing he would do if he ever got the chance again. He flew back to Loki, dropping the dagger in the way there, and he flipped the agents the finger before Loki took them back home.

Tony used the emergency protocol and the suit fell from his skin without reshaping into a suitcase. It was just more practical for his next course of action, which was sticking his fingers to Loki’s face and kiss him thoroughly. Loki didn’t complain; he wraped an arm around Tony's waist and pushed both of them until they were in the bedroom and out of breath.

They spent the next hour chasing off frustrations and fears that they would never admit to feeling; first in bed and later in the shower. There was an obvious difference with the previous nights that Loki wouldn’t say out loud and Tony wouldn’t even dare to think. The previous nights had been a slow race and a lot of showing off, because they were prideful and they had a whole race to represent, but that urge was gone now.

They were seeking comfort in each other in a way that was scarily domestic, without taking any passion from it at all. They weren’t the kind to take comfort in someone else, but it was working, so they were going to let it pass as a one-time situation. Soon Loki would leave, go to Jotunheim, leave Midgard behind, maybe for good, and try to escape from the lies of his life while Tony stayed and found someone else who lived in the same planet as him.

For some reason, as Loki sat on the couch with Tony’s feet on Loki’s lap again, nothing in his reasoning sounded as reassuring as it was supposed to sound. Tony must have been thinking the same thing, because after a string of moans, heavy breaths, a few profanities, and a very long silence, the next thing to come out of Tony’s lips that evening was:

“I want to see Jotunheim.”

Loki smirked, looking at the wall, happy to note that it wasn’t a request or a question so much as an order. Loki had to go through a lot of petitions and approvals if there was a formal request, but he couldn’t be expected to deny something so simple to a recently formed diplomatic link.

“Do you have permission from Virginia?” he asked to bother Tony.

“You know she is not my mother, right?” Tony picked a tablet from the coffee-table.

Loki hummed noncommittally.

“I’ll ask when she comes around for dinner. You know she’ll want to come too. Some days I wonder if we are a multinational just so she can see the world.”

Loki hummed again. He took the books he had not read yet and opened the first one while Tony started an application to review his files on magic, only asking a few questions and stopping from time to time to make a controlled light-explosion with one hand. The inventor had taken to explosions like a house on fire; smoke explosions, chemical explosions, mechanical explosions... but the delicate lights that Virginia created eluded him completely.

Loki was distracted from his books multiple times because he stopped to check Tony’s look of concentration every few paragraphs. He wanted to teach Tony and Virginia more spells so Tony would have that look of quiet ecstasy permanently fixed on his face. Loki bit the inside of his cheek; things tended to disappear when Loki put words like _permanent_ next to them; he wasn’t going to pin any hopes on it.

When Virginia came, she wanted to visit Jotunheim too, exactly as predicted, and she had decided to take them out to dinner, because takeaways weren’t a good gastronomic experience for an alien visiting. The restaurant looked elegant and expensive, the food was certaintly fantastic and both Virginia and Tony had dressed to impress. Loki, however, spent half of the dinner alone in their physical company.

Virginia was busy because the sudden trip required many preparations like proper winter clothes and rescheduling meetings. At the same time, Tony directed electronic attacks to prevent Shield from moving against them or Thor. Loki could stay silent and let them do their thing, but he was selfish and he wanted their company, so he materialized one of the books, the biggest one he had been given, and he put it between him and the humans. 

With a spell, he made the noise of the pages turning into a loud wave that went right to their brains without passing through their ears. If someone could make page-turning sound annoyed, it was Loki. When the humans finally realized that they had been neglecting their guest, they left their devices (Loki hid the book) and the conversation turned from food to magic, to politics, to space, and to culture without really stopping in a single topic for long.

They came back to the tower to find instruments to visit both poles at least twice. Loki could only marvel at Virginia’s efficiency without magic. Loki told them that, if everything was ready, they would leave the next morning with the Bifrost. He could take them through the hidden paths and show them Yggdrasil, and he wanted to show them the tree from the outside, but it would be suspicious if he didn’t take the Bifrost while on an official mission.

Virginia stayed late to have a drink with them and hear some second-hand tales about snow and monsters. Tony didn’t correct him from calling them monsters, but Loki found that he couldn’t do it in good conscience anymore. He had already changed some things from the retelling, like calling them troops instead of packs or herds, it simply made more sense like that.

The humans told him about expeditions to the North Pole and, to trade tragedies, they told him about the destruction of the Inuit culture on Earth. Loki had read some dark stories on the internet, but hearing it from them was worse. Loki wondered if the frost giants were anything like the Inuit and he felt oddly empty.

With so many mentions of cold, Virginia and Loki ended up sharing a blanket while Tony hogged one of his own and wedged his feet under Loki’s thigh. Loki found that he was content in Midgard; why did he have to leave and be a prince? Why did he have to play to Odin’s tune? Loki knew the answers, but still the questions repeated themselves that night when he slept next to the human once again.


	8. Trip Cut Short

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin plays his cards, but there are more players than he expected and he is not playing with the Loki he once knew.

Virginia and Tony offered a ludicrous picture with their polar garb. The long, white, puffy coats seemed uncomfortable and they limited their movement a great deal. The foot wear was too heavy for Pepper, although Tony seemed to be used to heavy boots. The gloves made them look utterly helpless, the sun cream was so thick that it made their tanned skin look even paler than Loki’s, and the goggles were just the perfect final touch to their absurd attire. Loki decided against telling them about warming spells, Midgardians could be _so_ inventive and delightful when they didn’t have magic solutions.

Their trip to Jotunheim the next morning had the inconvenience of going through the golden dome in Asgard and therefore Heimdall, who was hiding relevant information to Odin, if Loki was guessing right. The problem was, when they got to the golden dome, Heimdall wasn’t the only one waiting. Odin was standing there, giving his back to two Jotuns, who were much taller than Odin, but for some reason looked small and defenseless.

“Loki, we have been waiting for you.” Odin said solemnly before looking at the humans behind him. “What did you bring?”

Loki made a silence spell hastily. Loki liked that Tony defied everything and everyone in his way, but if the price was an Asgardian dungeon, Loki wasn’t going to pay it.

“You asked me to establish relationships with the Realms. These are a couple of powerful Midgardians I met there, there are more of them now, and the research has taken longer than expected.”

“That mission is over now. Asgard needs you.” Odin looked with revulsion at Virginia. “I hope you are not late because you took a shine to one of those _mortals_ ,” Odin said with disgust in his voice, as if the humans were too stupid to understand his words.

From the corner of his eye, Loki could see Tony about to face up to Odin even through the silent spell. Virginia took Tony’s hand caustically and with a sweet smile that saved their lives from the wrath of Odin. Odin huffed and turned back to Loki, apparently satisfied with the display, without realizing that they hadn’t spoken a single word.

“Heimdall tells me that Thor hasn’t been as judicious as you in his dealings with humans.” Loki seriously doubted those had been the guardian’s words. “His rule has been as tragic as you expected, my son, and it has revealed those whose loyalties are with Thor’s foolhardiness and who are loyal to the crown.”

Loki stayed quiet, as he usually did when Odin was involved. The four warriors currently on earth had been tricked into revealing their loyalties. They didn’t know in how much trouble they had gotten themselves, Loki pitied them in silence.

“The Warriors Three and Sif; their loyalty is commendable, but their heart is in the wrong place.” Odin sighed and shook his head. “They will be dealt with.”

Loki understood then why the guardian of the Bifrost had failed to report correctly to the Allfather. Heimdall had always had a soft spot for Thor; Heimdall was one of those loyal to Thor and he was helping him from his position in the dome. Loki would remember that, but for now, it was convenient that the guardian didn’t act as Odin’s devoted spy.

Loki avoided looking at him and instead directed his eyes to the mons- the giants, who were listening demurely. Odin followed Loki’s eyes and sighed again, looking old and weary.

“One more of your brother’s mistakes in his short time as king.” Odin supported himself heavily on his spear to explain himself. If things were different, Loki would have done anything to erase some of that weariness. “Their king, Laufey, was killed. Thor did it, unwisely, to celebrate his coronation.”

That was not true, Thor fought some Vanir; he told Loki. He wouldn’t have forgotten to tell him how he had succeeded killing the strongest of the Ice Warriors. If Heimdall was hiding things from Odin, if Odin didn’t know that the brothers had met, then Odin would have no qualms using a lie. What did that mean?

“Now is your chance, dear boy. Laufey’s sons know that there will be a war between their people if someone powerful doesn’t step up. You’d have my approval, nobody would dare defy you. You only have to use your ability to shape-shift into one of them and say that you are the long-lost son of Laufey.”

Odin’s hand landed heavily on Loki’s nape.

“Some say that during the war, Laufey abandoned his son in some temple, you can pretend to be him.”

Loki saw that the giants tensed when Odin said abandoned, but Loki focused in something different. “They have temples? A religion? They respect a king?” Nothing like beasts, then.

“That is not what you must focus on, my boy. They need someone to guide them; with my help, you could be the Aesir who brought civilization to those savages.”

Loki looked at the two giants, then back at Odin. There were no words, but Loki had been in war councils since he was tall enough to reach the border of the table. It was clear as day; Odin had threatened to unleash Asard’s army if the brothers didn’t accept Loki as their king, or maybe there had been no threats, but the brothers were aware of Odin’s power without need of them.

 _Dear boy_ , Odin had never had such a term of affection directed at him. It felt wrong now, felt like manipulation. And… Odin’s approval? His respect at last? Loki had thought that he already had some kind of approval, even if it wasn’t as obvious as Thor’s, even if he had to work harder to satisfy the Allfather.  Apparently he had never had that approval; maybe Loki had fooled himself into believing it.

And in that moment something else clicked. The war with the Jotun had ended around the same time as Loki was born. The Norns didn’t have a plan for Loki, but Odin did. Odin had tried by all means to drive the brothers apart. Odin had instigated fear of the Jotuns in all his domains and it would be very useful if Asgard controlled those monsters.

Loki remembered the human’s tales about the Inuit, and the myths that Jarvis had shown him, his place in those myths, and he remembered Odin telling them that both Thor and Loki were born to be kings, but never saying kings of Asgard, and now a legend about a long-lost prince. Loki was appalled, but it made sense.

There was a question plaguing Loki, so he asked it as he kept his voice in check, even though he couldn’t help the fat tears rolling down under his jaw.

“What happens to a Jotun who breaks an Aesir oath, _father_?” there was bitterness in his voice that he couldn’t hide.

Odin looked close to falling into the Odinsleep, but Loki wasn’t going to budge.

“Is that the reason why you kept me in Thor’s shadow? Why I was never enough?” Loki’s voice rose without him noticing. “Why they were the monsters that frightened us to stay in bed when Thor and I were children? Because I was one of them, kept to use as you please, but brought up to fear them, and myself?”

“You are one of us, Loki,” Odin said firmly. “Never one of them. Your mother and I love you.”

Loki was breathing fast; he wanted to shout, he wanted the truth out of the old man; he wanted Odin to stop lying, to stop putting memories of love where Loki only remembered trials of endurance. But badly told lies were more informative than truths, and Loki couldn’t expect the truth from someone who had been lying since well before he became king.

“We love you, Loki. You are an Aesir. We wanted to tell you what you were, but Frigga and I loved you too much to see you leave with them before you were ready.”

 _Ready to obey to Asgard_ Loki thought bitterly.

“You are our son, Loki.” It was too much.

Loki’s face was a mask of rage. He could feel the lies on his skin, on his very being. All those times he shape-shifted… those weren’t his true form any more than the Aesir body he was using. What was his real face? And if he was the lost prince, the son of Laufey… It meant that his true father had just died, it meant that the two Jotuns behind Odin were his half-brothers, it meant that Odin had probably killed Laufey and blamed Thor to put Loki in the throne.

“No, Odin,” Loki said with as much calm as he could muster. “I’m not your son or an Aesir. Take this spell from me.” Odin blinked, stupidly in Loki’s opinion. “NOW!”

Odin tapped his spear on the ground and suddenly Loki wasn’t Aesir anymore. There wasn’t a bleeding of colors, there wasn’t a transition. First there was Loki and suddenly there was a blue-skinned stranger in his place. Loki felt scared when he noticed the trail of his tears had frozen on his cheeks. It was the only thing he felt change, because he kept his eyes stubbornly on Odin.

The new skin carried a sense of freedom, and it lacked the weight of the lies, but Loki couldn’t fight off a nauseating wave of aversion towards himself. Odin used the shocked silence to push his agenda.

“Loki, you have been a good choice, this is your destiny, this is what the Norns planned for you, don’t fail me now. This is your burden and it is a glorious one: you have to be the hero the Nine realms need.” Loki noticed how quickly he had gone from being their _loved son_ to a _good choice._

Loki was swinging from hating Odin, to hating the giants, and hating himself. He didn’t care about failing Odin, he didn’t care about being the hero, but he was trapped in Odin’s plan. Tangled in a web of lies. Oh the irony! Loki was despised as the trickster god of lies, when the bigger one, the one sitting on the throne, had fooled them for millennia.

Loki couldn’t move, because he wasn’t sure his body would respond to him now, but he wanted to hurt Odin, or the Jotuns or himself, he didn’t really care as long as someone suffered a devastation as complete as what he felt inside. He wanted… _what were those humans doing now?_

Tony had left Virginia’s hand and the ridiculously small human had run behind Heimdall’s dais until he was right in front of the Jotuns, shaking their hands in the human way and surprising them. Tony caught Loki’s eyes and shrugged, making a show of the small gesture. Virginia was there a second later, sending support.

Loki looked at the giants, maybe for the first time. The sons of Laufey, leaders of the Frost Giants, but also creatures younger than Loki, who had just lost their father and had been pushed to play a game of wits with none other than Odin. Their kingdom needed them now, but they weren’t prepared, seeing how Odin had dragged them to Asgard to negotiate.

Despite the size difference, Loki could see how the humans had more control of the space around them than the gangly giants. And just like that Loki came to a decision.

“Don’t fool yourself, Allfather, I’m not an Odinson, and I never had the chance of being a Laufeyson, but I will do your biding, since it is the only path left for me, and straying from it would be as dangerous as jumping to the void.”

Odin hid a satisfied smile behind his beard, because the reasons why Loki obeyed weren’t as important as his plan running smoothly. The humans looked confused, the giants dropped their heads in defeat; Loki schemed.

“Heimdall, Odin must have business to attend to. We will finish this in Jotunheim without him.” Loki turned with all the poise of a prince. He had to work very hard to ignore how the markings on his skin felt against his clothes, it still felt repulsive.

“Loki, don’t-” Odin tried to stop him.

“Odin Borson,” Loki didn’t turn, but he listened to the echoes of steps, two heavy and two lighter; they were following. It would be a good first impression as king of Jotunheim in front of his father, nay, the _All_ father. “We are leaving now, and you are not welcome. If you trust me with the reign of this realm, now is a good moment to prove that you want me to help them and not just use me.”

Loki looked back at Odin to see if he had a response, but the older God was still. He was roped in his own lie for the time being. Loki knew that he wouldn’t stay that way for long, they had to leave now, so he walked to the light of the Bifrost without looking back. The humans sped up their pace until they were at Loki’s side, but the Bifrost blinded them before they could look at him properly.


	9. A Well of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ends usually blur with beginings.

Loki threw a hiding spell over them as soon as they touched Jotun soil. He didn’t want to rely on Heimdall; he was a wild card. If Odin, Loki and Thor were to fight, the gatekeeper would help Thor; but if it was down to Odin and Loki, he wouldn’t help Loki if it wasn’t convenient. Even worse, he would help Odin if that was what Thor wanted. Loki could see himself using the hiding spell a lot in the future.

The next thing he did was taking the silent spell from the humans. Tony would protest as soon as he realized that the spell was gone, so Loki didn’t waste time and he turned to the young giants, taking in their setting at the same time. They were most likely in the main square of a city; the constructions surrounding the oval square were carved from enormous walls of ice there was a tall block like a pulpit in the middle. There were other Jotuns looking curiosity both from windows and on the street.

“My most heartfelt condolences for your father.” Loki wasn’t sure if Jotuns had a concept of condolences, but by the sad look of the youngest, he was going to guess that they did.

“He was your father too, apparently,” he kid answered with a touch of dejection.

“What do you plan to do with us, fiend? We won’t allow it,” the oldest brother asked defensively, talking over his brother and stepping forward protectively. It was a bravado, and an obvious one after seeing them so subdued in the golden dome.

“What are your names?” Loki asked, not intimidated by their size; and now that he thought about it, if he was a Jotun, why wasn’t he taller?

“Helblindi and Býleistr” said the younger from behind his angry sibling.

“I said _, what do you plan to do with us?_ Answer, tyrant!” Býleistr, Býleistr? Loki didn’t know who was who, but the older was getting nervous.

“Wow, hey! My voice! We have our voices back, Pepper!” Loki didn’t have the time to care about the humans or what had startled them; the Jotun brothers had all his attention. Virginia must have reeled Tony in, though, because they didn’t talk anymore.

“I had planned to spend some days in your realm until Odin changed my course. I still want to spend a few days in your realm, explore it with the Midgardians, but I can bend my plans to be around if you need help.”

“What help?” the Jotun was uncertain.

“I don’t know Jotunheim like you do. If your realm is anything like mine… anything like Asgard, as princes you must have been told what to do in a case like this, you must have some kind of teachers, helpers, trusted mages, guardians, maybe a mother?” They shook their heads at the last one. “But you have people who can help you here.” Loki was looking for answers in the young’s eyes; he thought he could read agreement, but damn Odin for not letting them know Frost Giants before. Now Loki wasn’t sure reading their faces.

“On the other hand,” Loki continued despite the doubts. “I know Asgard and Odin better than you do. I think we can work something out.”

“Our people won’t accept you.” The older brother still fought, not believing the foreigner.

“Býleistr, he is saying that he doesn’t want the throne,” the younger, Helblindi, put a placating hand on his brother’s chest. “And I think he is offering help against Odin.” Both of them turned to look at their maybe-brother. “Are you?”

Loki nodded and studied their faces; it was hard to distinguish expressions from marks, but Loki was starting to see some similarities and differences between him and the brothers; things that had nothing to do with his… Jotun condition.

“And what is the price?” the cautious brother, Býleistr, asked.

“I’ll think of something. For the moment I only want to be free from the burden of a throne and the fate that Odin crafted for me.”

Loki felt the tension slowly dissipating; the lines of their faces relaxed, Loki was sure that they would give him a chance, so he turned to keep an eye on the humans. Both were ignoring the small crowd of giants who had gathered around them. Oh! That’s what had startled them, then? Obviously the Giants had not seen humans since the war. The youngest ones had never seen a human; they were cautiously studying the weird newcomers with puffy cloths.

Tony was unsubtly studying the Jotuns back, gloved hands firmly shoved in the pockets of his anorak, no doubt thanks to Virginia. What Virginia was studying was their conversation, and she seemed to conclude that Loki’s silence meant that it was her turn.

 “You saw in the dome that Loki has no interest in the kind of arrangement that Odin offered.”

“You all could have staged it,” Býleistr said immediately.

Loki wondered how anyone could think Jotuns were beasts when they could suspect something complex like that. In Loki’s opinion, most Asgardians had problems forming long sentences, nevermind forming a thought as interesting as a staged act to fool the princes of a realm into trusting an invading Aesir.

“Hey, wait a second,” Tony turned and proved again that he could pay attention to Loki’s conversations while looking distracted. “These humans here didn’t know that there were other _realms_ until two days ago, and as far as we know, this pretty thing didn’t know he was blue until ten minutes ago.”

Býleistr reached to take Loki’s hand and Loki stepped back instinctively. It was too difficult; forcing himself to stay tranquil when all his senses told him to prepare to fight. The giant frowned and left his hand outstretched, waiting, patience wearing thin and _no_ wasn’t an option.

Loki had to push through his panicking mind _blueblueblueblue_ to take the offered hand with his, also _blueblueblueblue,_ hand that he was seeing for the first time _monstermonstermonstermonster_ although a little voice with Tony’s warning tone said that he shouldn’t say monster, not yet.

It was disorienting, like the first time he had shapeshifted. He felt like the hand that was moving wasn’t his own, like he was giving orders to a limb that was miles away. Seeing the fingers move didn’t feel any better, for all he felt, there was no direct correlation between his brain and his hand; the same movement was a coincidence. He felt disconnected from that movement, and still he knew that the feel of brushing one knuckle against the blue ridge on the skin of his finger was part of him now.

Touching the skin of the other Jotun didn’t feel as strange, because it wasn’t him, after all, but Loki almost panicked again when Býleistr created a coat of solid ice over their hands. Loki felt burning and cold, and numb at the same time before his brain realized he was just cooler than usual and it didn’t hurt. Loki was having a hard time trying to stay calm and diplomatic.

“You seem to be telling the truth,” Býleistr concluded.

“Why?” Tony saved Loki from talking.

“His hand would have fallen off if he had been wearing a glamour,” Helblindi answered while his brother broke the ice and freed their hands. Loki cradled his arm against his chest, not in fear, but wanting to shake off that feeling of his hand not being his own.

“Oh. Nice to know in advance and everything,” Loki could hear Tony’s flippant response.

“Býleistr and Helblindi, this is very sudden. I think we all agree that we don’t want to follow Odin’s plan, so why don’t we figure out the details later?” Virginia tried to stop the conversation, used as she was to public faces and seeing them crack in the worst moments.

Helblindi looked with something like longing at the pulpit-like block in the middle of the square, touching a metallic emblem with runes that kept his cloth in place; his brother wasn’t easily sidetracked though. Býleistr looked confused and still angry.

“We should lock you in the dungeons until this is sorted out!”

“Brother,” Loki’s heart dropped; he could hear the deeper meaning of that one word as Helblindi turned from looking at the block. “We have a funeral to conduct for our people ahead, save your energies for that.”

Býleistr looked back and the two humans and the god looked at the tall block too. Virginia put her hand in front of her mouth and Tony frowned and looked away. Loki was transfixed. It was difficult to see, since they were shorter than the Jotuns, but there was someone laying on the stone, and it wasn’t too hard to guess it was Laufey’s body. Jotuns were walking to the stone in a sedate pace, one by one, and touching it respectfully; they should have realized earlier.

The older brother looked searchingly and told a passing Jotun to take the visitors to the surface halls and to the bright room. Býleistr turned from them sourly and Helblindi made a strange gesture before following his brother and putting a comforting arm around his shoulders.

The helpful new Jotun lead them away from the square and into a structure as big as Asgard’s palace, but with more decorations and less gold. The foreigners were positively uncomfortable, and the Jotun hadn’t started a conversation, despite the curious looks, so Tony had to talk before words got rust in his mouth or something worse.

“Ok, first things first, don’t ever shut me up without my permission, never again,” Tony had that calmly dangerous edge that had first made Loki notice how attractive the human was. It had been a couple of days ago, but it seemed like a lifetime had passed between then and now. Loki was so tired…

“Odin would have your life if you so much as breathe the wrong way,” Loki had been aware of the consequences of his spell when he was casting it. Thor had stopped talking to him for a whole year when he used it on him when Thor had been about to insult the elves; Loki could only hope that Tony would forgive him soon.

“Then tell me! But if I want to put my foot in my mouth, I will put it out again at some point. Never. Again. Promise?” Tony was missing the playful bearing that he usually wore like the richest cape. Loki didn’t realize he would miss that inane chatter so much, even if he liked his serious side just as much.

“I’d give you my oath,” Loki said with a self-deprecating smile, “but apparently it is meaningless.”

“Give us your word then,” Virginia added to the conversation, grave as Tony.

“Are you angry too?” Loki had thought Virginia would understand that he didn’t have a choice.

“Yes I am. I need my voice to get his foot out of his mouth,” Virginia was stern, but Loki thought those words meant she wasn’t as angry as she seemed to be.

“I apologize.” Loki clasped his hands behind his back. “I didn’t have time to think of anything else, but I give my word that it won’t happen again.”

“Good. Now that that is out, thanks for the spell. Tony would have been all over the place without it,” Loki marveled once again at Virginia’s control of her expressions; she had turned from humorless to mischievous impeccably.

“Hey! I had good reasons!” Tony whined, proving that both humans would drop the subject now that it was an explicit rule agreed by everyone.

Loki enjoyed how easily those two navigated problems. With each passing hour he believed more and more that Virginia and Tony thrived in chaos and changing tides. It was refreshing, since Asgard was bent on annihilating any strand that veered from perfect order. Loki had spent centuries being the hidden chaos; the one who changed everything behind the stage so nothing would really change. He wondered how life would be if he used chaos like them, but right then he felt like he was drowning in that chaos in which they easily floated.

There was a new silence as the Jotun opened set after set of doors until they reached their destination. They found themselves in a long room of ice, much like a smaller version of the halls, but there were monochrome paintings on the walls and ornaments of metal and stone, collected in two rows that divided the nave in three aisles. Despite the obvious display of what Jotuns must consider riches, it was simple set of wooden seats and a table that occupied a reverential position in the middle of the area. In a frozen land, it didn’t surprise Loki that even the simplest wood would be considered a luxury.

However, the attention-grabbing spot was high above them, where colored water seemed to have been frozen in contrasting rivulets and volutes forming an arcade. The ice was thin enough to let light pass through it, so the carved columns and the polished floors were bathed in colors.

The Jotun left them alone with the same strange gesture that Helblindi had made; the three foreigners assumed it was some kind of farewell and they repeated the gesture to the Jotun. The giant left the door open, maybe to spy on them, maybe so they wouldn’t feel caged, but Tony was quick to close it again. Once they were alone, the humans crowded Loki’s space.

“Are you all right?” Virginia asked. She was more articulate, but he could see that Tony was just as worried. Loki had to reassure them, they hadn’t joined him for this kind of trip, they didn’t need to endure any of this.

“I am fine; everything is going to be fine. I can still take you to Midgard through the paths, and you’d only have to call Heimdall if something went wrong and I couldn’t take you.”

Tony punched him lightly on the right arm, Loki’s feeling of detachment with his skin flared. “We are not worried because you are our ride back!”

“Then what…?”

Virginia pushed Loki, mindful of touching only cloth, until Loki could sit on something metalic. “We are worried because you look terrible, and before you jump to conclusions, I’m not talking about your looks.”

Tony sat next to him, close enough to touch; Loki felt a hot line from shoulder to knee. It was strange, and warmer than he expected. It brought back the memory of blue skin and he put his hands before him so he had something to look at that wasn’t just an image in his mind.

“Let’s try again, Alien, are you all right?” Tony asked, pushing more than Loki could give.

Virginia, who was standing before him, let her hands hover over his. Loki could feel the warmth radiating from the skin, oh! Her _naked_ hands, she had dropped the gloves. Loki felt like he had to give something back, so he clasped her hands in his. It was still strange, his touch was different in the ridges, but he didn’t know _how_ different.

Suddenly he realized he must have Jotun red eyes too instead of his personal green and it was a silly thing to focus on, but it was the last drop and the dam broke. He pulled his hands from the human’s to cover his blood-like eyes that were filling with tears. It felt like Odin had taken every little thing from him.

He could have held up for a few more hours at least; until he was completely alone, but the humans were there, asking if he was fine, and not because they needed him. Loki didn’t have any conscious input, but there was something safe in their questioning and Loki couldn’t find reasons to keep his barriers up.

“No, I’m not fine,” Loki let out before a sob interrupted anything else.

Loki felt tears freezing in his hands; even normal tears were out of the question. Odin had taken that along with everything else; his past was a lie, his future unsure, his family a politic move, and his self was undiscovered. He couldn’t even fight to get back what had been his, because there was nothing to recover.

The worst part was that Loki knew this was a good opportunity to start anew, to build a name for himself. He could get out of Thor’s shadow, he was in a perfect position to bring Odin down and, as he felt Tony’s arm on his shoulders and Virginia rubbing circles on his other arm, he remembered that he wasn’t exactly alone. But it wasn’t enough.

Everything was empty, every truth he had hold close to his heart was poisoned, and throwing that out left a blank space that was both intimidating and painful. It wasn’t about being a Jotun anymore. It was about not being _Loki._  

He could hear one of the humans asking if he wanted them to stop touching him, but Loki shook his head. He wanted the closeness, and he was getting used to the strange feeling. Not thinking about it helped, even if the other thoughts were like daggers. Tony held him closer and Virginia rested her forehead on his shoulder.

Loki wondered and wandered through his mind. There had to be truths there, but he couldn’t find them, grasping at straws. Who had known about him? Was he the only one in Asgard who didn’t know? Did people despise him because of who he really was? He couldn’t trust anyone, everybody lied, everybody had a reason to lie to him; every sign of warmth was just a hidden purpose. Trust was an illusion, trust was a children’s game, trust was…

Trust was following an alien to the den of unknown monsters.

Even if Loki couldn’t trust anyone, the pair of humans trusted him. That was a truth and he wouldn’t let Odin destroy that too. Maybe he could trust them back a little. They wanted him for his magic, and because he could show them the realms, but they were far more invested in him than what was strictly necessary. Loki could hold on to that.

His sobs receded at the thought of still holding the trust of someone, and then he took his hands from his face because he remembered he had his magic too. He called it to his hands and that, too, felt different in his new skin; strange, but not uncomfortable. It flowed more freely now that it didn’t have to circumvent someone else’s magic, and above all, it felt familiar.

He also had his wits. Even after receiving the worst of the blow, he had put himself in a position to get rid of Odin one day; he could be a better trickster than Odin.

Trust, magic, and wits: that’s why Loki was Loki. He didn’t need anything else to come back, except maybe a purpose.

Becoming the perfect shadow had been his purpose for too long. Now he had a world of options; he could choose revenge against Odin, he could find a peaceful home, in Midgard if he had the chance, he could travel the Nine and learn unknown magic, he could really help Jotunheim, he could even do all of those plans.

Tortuously slowly, Loki pulled himself away from the pain. Tony and Virginia had been murmuring sweet nothings that had sounded like a lullaby on the background but hadn’t registered with Loki. He only noted them in their absence now; they were looking at him and waiting.

“Do you want to share?” Tony asked, because he _couldn’t_ stay silent.

“I can’t now,” Loki answered truthfully, in case the dam would break again. “But I’m better.” He stood and picked up Virginia’s gloves. “And I’ll be even better, in time.” He handed the gloves back to her.

In the renewed silence, now without sobs, the sound of a tune traversed the room. It wasn’t too different from a slow Asgardian song, and by the sound of it, it consisted of many voices without instruments. It had to be part of the Jotun funeral.

Loki sat back between his humans, getting comfort from their presence. Strangely enough, as he held his breath in check, their bodies stopped feeling burning hot and went back to normal warmth.

“What is the plan now, Lolo?” Tony rubbed a hand up and down his thigh.

“The plan is I do what I want.” Loki said, managing a smirk from his convoluted emotions.

“That is not a plan, Loki, that’s a way of life, look at Tony,” Virginia joked with a smirk of her own.

“Yes, look at me, look how fabulous I am.” Tony opened his arms widely.

Loki chuckled softly at his childish antics. He had decided to trust these two; now was the moment to make that though something solid.

“Fine. The plan is keeping Odin far from Jotunheim, protecting it from Heimdall’s sight, learning about these people, covering their weaknesses, supporting their strengths, and making it even better than Asgard without ever touching the throne.”

Tony’s face fell a little. “I know this tune; it still sounds like the power in the shadows again.”

Loki grinned. “I don’t think so. I will play the king whenever Odin comes to check the progress, but I won’t be here whispering in the right ear to get things done. I will be in the open, just not on the throne and they will be the ones to decide if they want my advice or not. It won’t be anything like Asgard.”

“Loki, I have been thinking,” Virginia started thoughtfully. “There are portals between Jotunheim and Earth, right? And we could have things on earth that Jotunheim doesn’t.”

“Pepper!” Tony crossed his arms. “I never thought I’d be the one to lecture you, but leave work alone for a few hours!”

“Think about it! Loki, you are with me, surely.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Loki looked from one to the other, guessing, but wanting more than presumptions.

“We could open trade with Jotuns through the portals; we can put Foster to work on it. The potential of expansion of this planet and our own would increase tenfold,” Virginia made gestures in both directions with her hands and Loki squinted.

 “It is a fantastic idea, Pepper, you can be Queen of the World if you want later, but can you _please_ leave Stark Industries alone for a few days?” Tony sent her a pleading look and she rolled her eyes.

“Tony, the two princes of this planet will come through those doors in a while. If there is a perfect moment to start this, it is now.” She turned to Loki. “Where do we start?”

Tony rested his forehead against Loki’s shoulder and then rubbed his cheek on it. “This is why we can’t have nice things, Pepper, not my suits.”

“I surrender; when you ditch your suits, I ditch the company and we move to somewhere nice and warm,” Virginia said sarcastically.

“You’ll wait for a looong, looong time, Pep.” Tony stood up and wandered through the room, leaving nothing untouched, but staying where he could see them.

“That’s what I thought,” Virginia said to herself, and then louder: “Thoughts on making the multinational interplanetary?”

“It will have to pass through the brothers,” Loki said, regaining more of his footing with a topic he could deal with.

Virginia wasn’t impressed. “I’m sure I’ve convinced worse in the board of directors. Tony?”

“Yes, okay, it will make it easier coming here to see you,” Tony retorted while he inspected a particularly interesting wheel.

“Do you mean I’m not welcome in the tower anymore?” Loki teased the human.

“You are always welcome anywhere near me,” then Tony seemed to realize what had come out of his mouth and he winced. “Actually, you remember that shutting-up spell from before?” He looked away from the wheel and back at them, still with a pinched expression.

Loki laughed good-naturedly, because with some centuries behind him, he knew where Tony was coming from. “You want it now?”

“I want it two minutes ago, to prevent me from sounding like an utter moron,” Tony had a neutral expression on his face.

“Tony,” Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose. “Your one-night-stands never stay for more than one night, they don’t stay for breakfast, you don’t sleep with them in the sofa -yes, Jarvis has pictures- you definitely never meet their family and most don’t even have a name in the morning. Before this gets anymore awkward, can you stop being a baby and admit that there is something between you two? Would it hurt you?”

Virginia seemed embarrassed on Tony’s behalf, but even though Tony was blunt most of the time, Loki could see that this wasn’t the case. Tony had a wide smile, he started to fidget with everything in hand and he turned from looking directly to Virginia’s eyes to avoiding looking at anything.

“Can we not do this in a freezing planet? But it is not like that, Pepper, he is a friend, he is hot, and he is interesting, but it is not like that, right, Loki? He is interesting and sexy, you don’t have to go around imagining relationships or labeling or anything, and anyway, there are aliens, Pepper, who knows what else is out there! I bet monogamy is not even all that common. I still think that there is something between us three even if you are in denial.”

“My boss,” she chanted.

“Not it you are the Queen of the World,” he chanted back. “Queen Pepper, how does it sound?”

Loki could be mad at Virginia for exposing Tony like that, only laughed more at the obvious rambling. He stood and hooked an arm around Tony’s waist before kissing Tony gently. “It is fine. I can have a relationship with you now and you can have one with me whenever you want.”

Tony could read between the lines _whenever you are ready,_ and if Tony didn’t love him already, he would have fallen all over again. He wasn’t ready to say _that_ aloud, but he could kiss Loki again, and again, and trace Loki’s cheekbones with his thumbs, and hope that it conveyed, if not everything, at least the patience until he could find the words. However, there was something he could say:

“Thank you,” and then, because he wouldn’t be Tony otherwise, “And Pepper?”

“When she is Queen Pepper, if she ever wants.”

And where Tony made everything sound like a joke, Loki made it sound like an actual invitation that she could take if she wanted. Tony didn’t see her face, so he didn’t see her different reaction; Tony had a huge revelation in mind “You said her name!”

They were interrupted in that moment by the doors opening; Tony and Loki stepped away, just to be on the safe side. To the three foreigners, most of the Frost Giants looked the same, but the one that came through the doors, Helblindi, had been wearing a dark green cape, easy to recognize, and the metallic emblem with the runes.

He was calm as one could be given the situation, and even if they couldn’t see if his eyes were red, the swollen eye lids were quite telling. When he came in he had a polite smile plastered in his face and he announced that his brother would join them shortly.

Before the awkward silence had time to settle, Tony broke it.

“Sooo, do you know why my friend here is so small where it doesn’t count?”

“Tony!” Virginia screeched between her teeth.

Helblindi didn’t seem to have any grievance at the question; something that eased Loki a bit, he hadn’t had time to worry about that, but it was going to come up at some point. Having the answers now would save him some worry later.

 “Sometimes Jotuns are born small; remains of a time when mixed blood was common, before Odin banished us from Midgard, but it might be a problem in the growth: being locked in a small Aesir body since birth can’t be healthy.” Helblindi stopped, deep in thought. “I could bring the healers, they would trigger growth.”

“No! I don’t want more changes, I can shape shift if it becomes a burden,” Loki had other reasons in mind too, but he was having enough with the change of skin. He didn’t want to deal with size too.

“Fine, but it won’t be a burden. Your size is as common as curled horns,” Helblindi reassured Loki, receiving only blank stares in exchange. “It means that it is very common, even if it is not the most usual.”

“Oh.”

Býleistr came later with puffy eyes to match his brother’s and an entourage of trusted advisers to meet Loki. The advisers gave them a broader set of Jotuns to study and faces to remember. Tony realized that there were females, but he hadn’t noticed, because they were almost exactly the same as males. Tony spent a good part of the meeting wondering if one of the brothers was actually a sister. Virginia might or might not have taken a picture of everyone with her phone and written a cheat sheet on the notes app, but in general the meeting went well.

Virginia even had the occasion to present her idea of a trade bridge with Earth, which she introduced saying “there is an idea, my partners know this, called the Interworld Initiative.” From then on, Virginia had the advisors drinking from her words like they were the finest ale of the elves.

At the end of the meeting there were many ideas and hopes for better worlds; everyone had warmed up to the idea of Loki and his acolytes as formal members of the advisors and they didn’t mind much the idea of Loki as their public face in Asgard. Even Tony, whose childish antics had made him start on the wrong foot, had earned their favor when he became invested in their energy problem.

Everything seemed to be fine, but at the end the brothers requested to talk with Loki in private. Loki stayed behind while the humans went to explore something that Tony had felt. Their conversation echoed through the hall.

“You don’t feel it? The vibrations? They must be underground, protected from the cold, but I can feel a motor on the floor. And there are these things all across the city, it looks like empty plumbing, like tubes within the ice walls, I need to know what that is.”

“Could it be, I don’t know, plumbing?”

“It can’t be plumbing.”

“Why?”

“It’s transparent, Pepper. Imagine your bathroom’s plumbing transparent.”

“Ugh.”

“Yeah, that.”

Once the echoes of their voices died, Loki turned his attention to the brothers. Three magpies had entered the chamber in the middle of the reunion, but Loki hadn’t paid attention, since he was used to Odin’s crows. As it turned out, the magpies had a similar function.

The Laufeyson brothers had sent the magpies as soon as their father died, to find the culprit, but they had come back with interesting news. Odin had sent the Destroyer to Earth, to end the betrayal of the Warriors Three and Sif. Without Thor’s protection, the warriors had been battered to an inch of their lives and Thor had been gravely hurt.

In that moment Odin had descended to Earth and had explained to them that Loki had taken control of Asgard’s throne and had sent the Destoryer. The cornered warriors had had to swear an oath of fealty directly to Odin to earn his protection, Thor had admitted that Loki had tricked him once again and Mjolnir had flown to him once he admitted that Odin was the wisest king there would ever be.

Once Thor had regained his godship and access to Asgard, Odin and the warriors had had to physically restrain him when Odin told him that Loki was in fact a Jotun that had lived in their midst with no one the wiser. Thor had wanted to use the Bifrost against Jotunheim, where Odin had told him that Loki was hiding, posing as their king.

Those were heartbreaking news for Loki, but not completely unexpected. It meant that Odin had taken his brother from him, as he had wanted to, and that the next time that they met, it wouldn’t be on friendly terms. Loki had hoped against hope to salvage that part of his life, but as long as Odin lived, Loki couldn’t have his brother back. It was one more reason to defeat Odin and, from the point of view of the Jotuns, one more reason to trust Loki.

The magpies left, taking a smidgen of Loki’s hope with them, but that wasn’t the reason the brothers had wanted to see him.

“There is something we can offer you, if we agree on you being the Meandering King for Jotunheim.” The younger brother crossed his arms before his chest. “We don’t want to get out of Odin’s thrall only to fall in yours. We’ll pay our debt.”

“Are the mortals yours?” the elder brother asked directly.

“Mine? If you mean… if I own them…” Loki frowned, remembering tales about Jotun taking children as slaves to clean their caves.

“I mean if they are your lovers, your children, your soldiers, family, clan, tribe, _yours_.”

Loki wasn’t sure if the Jotun had taken offense, but had Loki been in his own skin, he might have blushed for letting the Asgardian tales dictate his train of thought. Loki still tensed once the misunderstanding was solved; he had known that people would use the humans against him, like Sif had done with Tony when they fought, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly with the Jotuns too.

“They are not part of our deals,” he frowned. “Threatening them wouldn’t play in your favor.”

“I don’t know what kind of deals you have found in Asgard, Loki Son of Chaos, but things don’t work like that in our kingdom,” said the eldest.

“We mention the humans, because you wouldn’t be the first to suffer that pain.”

The deal the brothers had to offer was a temptation that Loki hadn’t dared to contemplate, a problem that hadn’t crossed his mind yet, but wouldn’t let him sleep if he refused the deal. Loki didn’t know if he could call the humans _his_ ; he wanted to, and maybe he had already done it a couple of times in his mind, where nobody could try to pry. Outside? Outside everything was tender and new.

This deal came too early. He had known the humans for such a short time… even for humans, a few days weren’t long enough. In the same space of time everything could crumble and fall. His whole life had collapsed in a matter of minutes. It could be a wasted deal, but it could also be the ray of hope that Loki wanted to find.

It didn’t matter that it was too early, not really. What really mattered was that Loki would forever hate himself if he didn’t try.

It wasn’t a deal that he could accept on his own, though. He had to pass the opportunity to his… Virginia had called them partners, his tentative friends, his maybe-more; his humans. Whatever the outcome of their undefined relationships, Loki wanted to give them a say in it. Thus, Loki left the brothers and dashed through unfamiliar halls until he found the humans in a boiler room underground.

He burst in with a barely contained grin and the splendid piece of news:

“Jotuns own the well that waters Idunn’s Apple orchard!” Seeing the puzzled look on their faces, he rephrased the sentence. “For how long do you want to live?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is (mostly) the end. Thank you for your comments, kudos and support, you can still hit my askbox in tumblr with a prompt.  
> And I'm working on an epilogue. Thank Nyx Ro for that.  
> See you all!


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